Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
—Lucretius, c. 58 BCQuotes
On no other stage are the scenes shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when once the hour strikes.
—Edward Bellamy, 1888The 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, 1878Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.
—William Shakespeare, 1592Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.
—Derek Walcott, 1986To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.
—Albert Camus, 1951Watch 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, 1990All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.
—Plotinus, c. 255In 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, 1967Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.
—Plato, c. 375 BCThere is not so contemptible a plant or animal that does not confound the most enlarged understanding.
—John Locke, 1689To blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCOnce something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.
—Robert Wilson, 1991