Archive

Quotes

God is alive. Magic is afoot.

—Leonard Cohen, 1966

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

In the society of men, the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are so ugly if seen in the light of exiled truth, and beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie.

—R.D. Laing, 1967

Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.

—Derek Walcott, 1986

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

—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952

The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.

—Gaston Bachelard, 1960

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.

—William Shakespeare, 1592

There is not so contemptible a plant or animal that does not confound the most enlarged understanding.

—John Locke, 1689

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

—Robertson Davies, 1985

Appearances often are deceiving.

—Aesop, c. 550 BC

Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.

—Plato, c. 375 BC

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

—Tom Robbins, 1976

The Mughal’s nature is such that they demand miracles, but if a miracle were to be performed by some upright follower of our religion, they would say that it had been brought about by magic and sorcery. They would strike him down with spears or would stone him to death.

—Fr. Antonio Monserrate, 1590