Man is always a wizard to man, and the social world is at first magical.

Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.

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

There 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.

Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.

To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.

I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.

Nothing worth knowing can be understood with the mind.

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

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.

The mind is led on, step by step, to defeat its own logic.

Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.

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.