To blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCQuotes
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, 1590Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
—Saint Augustine, c. 400On 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, 1888A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.
—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952The mind is led on, step by step, to defeat its own logic.
—Dai Vernon, 1994The fact is certain because it is impossible.
—Tertullian, c. 200Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.
—Robert Southey, 1809The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.
—Gaston Bachelard, 1960Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
—Roald Dahl, 1990Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.
—William Shakespeare, 1592Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCOnce something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.
—Robert Wilson, 1991