Can encrypting well known files hurt the security of the key?
Fgrieu answered my question in a comment to show that my key will be protected even despite the fact that I encrypted well known files.


  As a general rule, any modern encryption program should aim at security under chosen plaintext attack, and that's a goal of GPG, thus encrypting well known files should not hurt the security of your private key or otherwise compromise the confidentiality of your encrypted files; other causes with a much higher potential for that abound. [edited]