The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.

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

Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.

Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.

Egypt was the mother of magicians.

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

The mind is led on, step by step, to defeat its own logic.

Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.

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

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

Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?

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

Nothing worth knowing can be understood with the mind.