Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.
—Plato, c. 375 BCQuotes
A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.
—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.
—Thomas Malory, c. 1470The fact is certain because it is impossible.
—Tertullian, c. 200Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCEverything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.
—Pablo Picasso, 1929The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.
—Italo Calvino, 1967Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
—Lucretius, c. 58 BCEgypt was the mother of magicians.
—Clement of Alexandria, c. 200Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
—Saint Augustine, c. 400To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.
—Albert Camus, 1951Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.
—Derek Walcott, 1986In the past, men created witches; now they create mental patients.
—Thomas Szasz, 1970