Archive

Quotes

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

—Robertson Davies, 1985

There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching toward him and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange.

—Elias Canetti, 1960

The fear of the Lord is true wisdom, and he who hath it not can in no way penetrate the true secrets of magic.

—Abraham the Jew, c. 1400

A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.

—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952

There are times when reality becomes too complex for oral communication. But legend gives it a form by which it pervades the whole world.

—Jean-Luc Godard, 1965

Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.

—Robert Wilson, 1991

To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.

—Albert Camus, 1951

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.

—Tom Robbins, 1976

Men willingly believe what they wish.

—Julius Caesar, c. 50 BC

Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.

—Robert Southey, 1809

God is alive. Magic is afoot.

—Leonard Cohen, 1966

In the past, men created witches; now they create mental patients.

—Thomas Szasz, 1970

On no other stage are the scenes shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when once the hour strikes.

—Edward Bellamy, 1888