The fact is certain because it is impossible.
—Tertullian, c. 200Quotes
Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.
—Plato, c. 375 BCNothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.
—Demosthenes, 349 BCDisbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?
—Aristophanes, 423 BCThe 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. 1400A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.
—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952The 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 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, 1965In 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, 1967Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCThe 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, 1590The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.
—Italo Calvino, 1967