Man is always a wizard to man, and the social world is at first magical.
—Jean-Paul Sartre, 1939Quotes
The fact is certain because it is impossible.
—Tertullian, c. 200Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.
—Demosthenes, 349 BCOn 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, 1888Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.
—William Shakespeare, 1592Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCThe mind is led on, step by step, to defeat its own logic.
—Dai Vernon, 1994Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
—Lucretius, c. 58 BCWatch 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, 1990Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.
—Plato, c. 375 BCThe 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.
—Fr. Antonio Monserrate, 1590Egypt was the mother of magicians.
—Clement of Alexandria, c. 200