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Quotes

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

—Plotinus, c. 255

In 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, 1967

One thing alone not even God can do: to make undone whatever has been done.

—Aristotle, c. 350 BC

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

—Robert Wilson, 1991

Egypt was the mother of magicians.

—Clement of Alexandria, c. 200

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

—Albert Camus, 1951

The 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. 1400

Nothing worth knowing can be understood with the mind.

—Woody Allen, 1979

A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.

—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

—Saint Augustine, c. 400

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

—Tom Robbins, 1976

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

—Sophocles, c. 441 BC

Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.

—Lucretius, c. 58 BC