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Quotes

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

—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.

—William Shakespeare, 1592

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

—Sophocles, c. 441 BC

Appearances often are deceiving.

—Aesop, c. 550 BC

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

Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.

—Plato, c. 375 BC

Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.

—Derek Walcott, 1986

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

—John Locke, 1689

The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.

—Italo Calvino, 1967

Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.

—Pablo Picasso, 1929

God is alive. Magic is afoot.

—Leonard Cohen, 1966

Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.

—Robert Southey, 1809

All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.

—Plotinus, c. 255