Egypt was the mother of magicians.
—Clement of Alexandria, c. 200Quotes
Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
—Lucretius, c. 58 BCNothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
—Robertson Davies, 1985On 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 subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.
—Gaston Bachelard, 1960The 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, 1878All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.
—Plotinus, c. 255Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?
—Aristophanes, 423 BCThe more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.
—Italo Calvino, 1967To 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 BCDisbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976There 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, 1965Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.
—Robert Southey, 1809