Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976Quotes
The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878There 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, 1960Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.
—Robert Wilson, 1991Watch 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, 1990To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.
—Albert Camus, 1951Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.
—Robert Southey, 1809One thing alone not even God can do: to make undone whatever has been done.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCA miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.
—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.
—William Shakespeare, 1592There are times when reality becomes too complex for oral communication. But legend gives it a form by which it pervades the whole world.
—Jean-Luc Godard, 1965Appearances often are deceiving.
—Aesop, c. 550 BCSuperstitions are habits rather than beliefs.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962