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.

The fear of the Lord is true wisdom, and he who hath it not can in no way penetrate the true secrets of magic.

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

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

Egypt was the mother of magicians.

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

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.

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

Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.

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.

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

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

Watch 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.