Egypt was the mother of magicians.
—Clement of Alexandria, c. 200Quotes
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, 1590On 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, 1888In the past, men created witches; now they create mental patients.
—Thomas Szasz, 1970There 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, 1960Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976Many 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, 1991Man is always a wizard to man, and the social world is at first magical.
—Jean-Paul Sartre, 1939Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.
—Pablo Picasso, 1929The fact is certain because it is impossible.
—Tertullian, c. 200The mind is led on, step by step, to defeat its own logic.
—Dai Vernon, 1994Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
—Robertson Davies, 1985