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. 1400Quotes
Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.
—Plato, c. 375 BCNothing worth knowing can be understood with the mind.
—Woody Allen, 1979In 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, 1967Watch 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, 1990Men willingly believe what they wish.
—Julius Caesar, c. 50 BCNothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
—Robertson Davies, 1985Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?
—Aristophanes, 423 BCNothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.
—Demosthenes, 349 BCI shall curse you with book and bell and candle.
—Thomas Malory, c. 1470There is not so contemptible a plant or animal that does not confound the most enlarged understanding.
—John Locke, 1689The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science.
—Albert Einstein, 1930Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.
—Robert Wilson, 1991