Quotes & Sayings About Magicians

Don't be ridiculous," Mg. Aviosky assured her as Magicians Katter and Hughes studied Mg. Thane lying on the floor by the light of four candles. "The only one who can manipulate Emery Thane's future is Emery Thane himself. — Charlie N. Holmberg

He was transfixed at the sight of the lords and ladies of his realm running about like demented chickens. — Jonathan Stroud

Magicians can do more by means of faith than physicians by the truth. — Giordano Bruno

The genius of a great magician is as impressive as the genius of a great scientist. — Amit Kalantri

The great trouble with magicians is the fact that they believe when they have bought a certain trick or piece of apparatus, and know the method of procedure, that they are full-fledged mystifiers. — Harry Houdini

I never thought about doing a sequel when I was actually writing 'The Magicians.' I only ever considered it a standalone. — Lev Grossman

The impediment to scientific thinking is not, I think, the difficulty of the subject. Complex intellectual feats have been mainstays even of oppressed cultures. Shamans, magicians and theologians are highly skilled in their intricate and arcane arts. No, the impediment is political and hierarchical. — Carl Sagan

Christ alone, of all the philosophers, magicians, etc., has affirmed eternal life as the most important certainty, the infinity of time, the futility of death, the necessity and purpose of serenity and devotion. He lived serenely, as an artist greater than all other artists, scorning marble and clay and paint, working in the living flesh. In other words, this peerless artist, scarcely conceivable with the blunt instrument of our modern, nervous and obtuse brains, made neither statues nor paintings nor books. He maintained in no uncertain terms that he made ... living men, immortals. — Vincent Van Gogh

A magician must always value his magic effects more than himself, because after few years audience may not remember his name but they will remember his magic effect. — Amit Kalantri

What magicians we are, turning darkness into light, transforming invisible atoms into dazzling theater of the world, pulling objects, (people as well as rabbits) out of secret microscopic closets, turning winter into summer, making a palmful of moments disappear through time's trap door. We learned the methods so long ago that they're unconscious, and we've hypnotized ourselves into believing that we're the audience, so I wonder where we served our apprenticeship. Under what master magicians did we learn to form reality so smoothly that we forgot to tell ourselves the secret? — Jane Roberts

Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians. They met upon the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic. — Susanna Clarke

Wizards? Do you mean they do things a different way?"
"No, just the way we do,"Merlin replied.With a flick of his finger he lit the soggy heap of kindling that Arthur had gathered ( ... ) A blaze leapt up on the instant. Merlin then opened his hands and produced some food out of thin air. — Deepak Chopra

Well, speaking as a feminist, I'm glad that women can lead
uh, groups of unspeakable magical evil."
"Yes," Alan said gravely. "It'd be shoking if the evil magicians were sexist. For one thing, that would mean they were stupid, and having stupid enemies would be a terrible blow to my manly pride. — Sarah Rees Brennan

Datum: At least one-third of ancient rulers' seers and magicians were in fact fired or killed early in their tenure because it emerged that the bulk of what they foresaw or intuited was irrelevant. Not incorrect, just irrelevant, pointless. — David Foster Wallace

Part of the job of adults was to set limits. But the last rule, the unspoken rule of any story or journey, is that all limits are suspect. All warnings show only the point where the last story stopped, the boundary past which the map is unmapped. The Kingdom of Here There Be Dragons is the province of explorers, magicians, and kids. — Bob Proehl

If you are really bored with life, just meet a decent magician and have a close up magic show, he will restore inspiration in your life. — Amit Kalantri

Imagine a world where speaking or writing words can literally or directly make things happen, where getting one of those words wrong can wreak unbelievable havoc, but where the right spell you can summon immensely powerful agencies to work your will. Imagine further that this world is administered: there is an extensive division of labour, among the magicians themselves and between the magicians and those who coordinate their activity. It's bureaucratic, and also (therefore) chaotic, and it's full of people at desks muttering curses and writing invocations, all beavering away at a small part of the big picture. The coordinators, because they don't understand what's going on, are easy prey for smooth-talking preachers of bizarre cults that demand arbitrary sacrifices and vanish with large amounts of money. Welcome to the IT department. — Ken MacLeod

That did it. I'd gone through a lot in the past few days. Everyone I met seemed to want a piece of me: djinn, magicians, humans ... it made no difference.I'd been summoned, manhandled, shot at, captured, constricted, bossed about and generally taken for granted. And now, to cap it all, this bloke is joining in too, when all I'd been doing was quietly trying to kill him. — Jonathan Stroud

Magic is the only honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you and he does. — Karl Germain

Magicians lose the opportunity to experience a sense of wonder. — David Copperfield

It is curious and we magicians collect curiosities, you know. — Susanna Clarke

[Psychics] use exactly the same gimmicks that we magicians do - the same physical methods, the same psychological methods - and they effectively and profoundly deceive millions of people around the earth, to their detriment. — James Randi

Magicians guard an empty safe. — Jim Steinmeyer

Because we live in a world under siege," I say. "Life sucks for mages and magicians- you taught me that. Bad things happen to those of us who get involved, but if we didn't fight, we'd be in an even worse state. None of it it's your fault, any more than it's the fault of the moon or the stars."
Dervish nods slowly, then arches an eyebrow "The moon or the stars?"
"I always get poetic when I'm dealing with self-pitying simpletons. — Darren Shan

Ive said its a little bit like a magician performing for a convention of magicians ... all the magicians in the audience watching this illusion-Do they see the illusion, or do they see the device that made the illusion? Probably they see a little of both. — Chuck Close

Magicians will always tell you the trick is the most important thing, but I'm more interested in telling a story. — Marco Tempest

They went around the room telling stories about how they'd gotten here. No two were exactly the same, but there was always a certain family resemblance. Somebody went looking for a lost ball in an alley, or a stray goat in a drainage ditch, or fallowed an inexplicable extra cable in the high school computer room which led to a server closet that had never been there before. — Lev Grossman

Birds are the magicians of the nature! They are here, they are there and they are everywhere! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

You want to create a country with millions of great magicians? Then let the free thinking prevails everywhere. And thus creativity will increase and creativity is the greatest magician in our universe. — Mehmet Murat Ildan

As records of courts and justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value. — Ambrose Bierce

The Door Without a Key is the Door of Dreams; it is the door by which the sensitive escape into insanity when life is too hard for them, and artists use it as a window in a watch-tower. Psychologists call it a psychological mechanism; magicians call it magic, and the man in the street calls it illusion or charlatanry according to taste. It does not matter to me what it is called, for it is effectual. — Dion Fortune

Titles are like a magicians wand which circumscribe human facility and prevent us from living the lives of man. — Thomas Paine

Most magicians are afraid of magic. — Max Maven

Her bulk seemed to fill the world, blocking out the horizon and casting a shadow over the magicians huddled on the wall. The enchantment appeared to encompass everything upon her person, for as she grew, so did the fronds of seaweed draped over her, and the pretty amber pendant on her breast expanded till it was itself the height and breadth of a grown man.
"Midsommer!" roared Lord Burrow. "Look to your wife!"
"He can hardly miss her", remarked Prunella. — Zen Cho

A good magician's performance tells a story. Each act should build on the next, becoming ever more engaging to fill the audience with wonder. It's a bud that unfurls into a flower, meant to woo the audience. — Laura Lam

For if rice and tuna was his for-guests meal, Ceony couldn't imagine what the man ate when he dined alone. Perhaps Mg. Aviosky had assigned her here merely to ensure England's oddest paper magician got some decent nutrition and didn't wither away, leaving the country with only eleven paper magicians instead of twelve. — Charlie N. Holmberg

I think with The Magicians, the Harry Potter and Narnia influences are obviously there. — Hale Appleman

Writers and magicians do essentially the same thing, they create worlds with words and will. — James L. Wilber

I am a wizard," he muttered. "Magicians do parlor tricks. — Priya Ardis

Okay, can you pass yourself off as a magician and gain Gerald's trust and pass us information about Celeste's plans and save all the magicians who want to be saved? Jaime asked. Because if so awesome. I shall stay here and eat pie. — Sarah Rees Brennan

Those magicians who object to the use of blood, have endeavored to replace it with incense. But, the bloody sacrifice, though more dangerous, is more efficacious. And for nearly all purposes, human sacrifice is the best. — Aleister Crowley

Self-Professed Black Magicians seem universally unable to fight, fuck, or even buy their way out of wet paper bags, despite phantasizing constantly about becoming powerful psychopaths. — Peter J. Carroll

I love you, he told her.
Sweet joy rushed through her. But there was a distinct smugness about his words. He'd sensed her feelings in return, and was pleased with himself for doing so.
Turns out I love you too, she replied, communicating her wry amusement. Of all the annoying people in the world. — Trudi Canavan

Many people forget that magick is all about change, and the greatest change is the inner, not the outer, landscape. Outer magickal changes - such as immediately getting a new job, lover, or physical healing - seem more impressive at first, but the inner changes last longer. They are the most impressive. Anyone can learn to do some basic spells and have good results, but the practitioners who develop a solid spiritual and magickal practice become more centered, calm, healthy, and truly confident over time are the magicians who impress me. — Christopher Penczak

Sometimes for the spectators a great magic effect is worth a life's experience. — Amit Kalantri

Dance Is Magic, Dancers Are Magicians, Music Is The Magic Portion Mixed In The Heart 'The Magic Pot'...Now Go Do Some Magic Today And Live A Magical Life — Okwudili Iloka

Take those frauds who practice pseudoscience - do you know who they're most afraid of?"

"Scientists, of course."

"No. Many of the best scientists can be fooled by pseudoscience and sometimes devote their lives to it. But pseudoscience is afraid of one particular type of people who are very hard to fool: stage magicians. In fact, many pseudoscience hoaxes were exposed by stage magicians. — Liu Cixin

What he'd find there, of course, was up to Pete. But he was sure there were magicians in Tampico and leopard-skins and golden thrones in Juba. Dragons and pirates and white temples where magic dwelt. And best of all, the places he didn't know about yet, the ones that would come as surprises. Oh, not entirely pleasant surprises. There should be a hint of peril, a touch of terror, to emphasize the brightness of adventure ...
("Before I Wake ... ") — Henry Kuttner

In point of fact magicians appear to have often developed into chiefs and kings. — James G. Frazer

No matter how many times audience has already applauded, the sound of their applause will get louder with the better quality of your magic effect. — Amit Kalantri

Frauds master our minds; magicians, like poets and lovers, engage them in a permanent maze of possibilities. — Adam Gopnik

That romance is nowhere as vividly encapsulated as in that moment when a pile of hard, almost odorless gray-green seeds is suddenly and magically transformed into the fragrant vehicle of our dreams, reveries, and conversation. To be the magicians waving the wand of transformation makes that metamorphosis all the more stirring and resonant. — Kenneth Davids

A great piece of music make people to close their eyes but a great magic effect make their eyes wide open. — Amit Kalantri

I'm such a proponent of the theatrical experience and the cinematic experience, and we've reached this point where the magicians are not only giving away their tricks, but they're telling us how they're doing the tricks in advance before you even come to the magic show. It'd be nice to get a little of the mystery back in. — Colin Trevorrow

If you are a magician then you can always do a lot more magic than you think you can. — Amit Kalantri

As a general rule, in the world of magic, the most successful magician is the one who has enough patience to keep the secrets of his original magic effects. — Amit Kalantri

General belief is "There is no real magic, only tricks" but a great magician compel people not to trust that belief and make them believe, after all "There does exist a real magic". — Amit Kalantri

Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?
Vladimir: Yes, yes, we're magicians. — Samuel Beckett

But devils are subservient to certain influences of the stars, because magicians observe the course of certain stars in order to evoke the devils. — Heinrich Kramer

But then, liars do make the best magicians, and he happened to be exceptional. — Lisa Maxwell

Think like magician, present like magician and perform like magician. — Amit Kalantri

Dai Vernon, the greatest sleight of hand figure in the history of the art, rarely performed. But he invented magic and had an enormous influence on the whole range of sleight of hand. And so often, the magic he was doing was to fool other magicians. — Ricky Jay

Taking things personally makes you easy prey for these predators, the black magicians. They can hook you easily with one little opinion and feed you whatever poison they want, and because you take it personally, you eat it up. You eat all their emotional garbage, and now it becomes your garbage. But if you do not take it personally, you are immune in the middle of hell. Immunity to poison in the middle of hell is the gift of this agreement. — Miguel Ruiz

Nobody who is a Penn & Teller fan thinks of us first and foremost as magicians, but as a comedy team. — Teller

One of the finest magicians you can see is David Oliver. — Barry Nolan

But where was he going to go, exactly? It was not considered the thing to look panicked or even especially concerned about graduation, but everything about the world after Brakebills felt dangerously vague and under-thought to Quentin. What was he going to do? What exactly? Every ambition he'd ever had in his life had been realized the day he was admitted to Brakebills, and he was struggling to formulate a new one with any kind of practical specificity. This wasn't Fillory, where there was some magical war to be fought. There was no Watcherwoman to be rooted out, no great evil to be vanquished, and without that everything else seemed so mundane and penny-ante. No one would come right out and say it, but the worldwide magical ecology was suffering from a serious imbalance: too many magicians, not enough monsters. — Lev Grossman

When Tessia and Jayan were served a large, fat rassook each, Jayan had smugly commented that Tessia certainly had a way with villagers and he would not be surprised if she could charm pickpockets into putting money into her wallet. — Trudi Canavan

Magic is not what magicians can do, but what they can't do. — Marty Rubin

The more I look at most of the art movements, it's all occultism, when you get down to it. The Surrealists were openly talking about being magicians. — Alan Moore

Children and babies should be held in the most sacred regard. We feel that they're the most natural and true magicians. — Zeena Schreck

My mother brought me magicians and witches, because I was very ugly, really revolting. So she thought somebody had put a spell on me - this is the truth - so she made me drink some horrible terrifying potions, for year. — Roberto Benigni

Just having a certain kind of attitude can be magic. — Matt Posner

Oh, I believe you. It's too ridiculous not to be true. It's just that each time my world gets stranger, I think: Right. We're at maximum oddness now. At least I know the full extent of it. First, I find out my brother and I are descended from the pharaohs and have magic powers. All right. No problem. Then I find out my dead father has merged his soul with Osiris and Why not? Then my uncle takes over the House of Life and oversees hundreds of magicians around the world. Then my boyfriend turns out to be a hybrid magician boy/immortal god of funerals. And all the while I'm thinking, Of course! Keep calm and carry on! I've adjusted! And then you come along on a random Thursday, la-di-da, and say, Oh, by the way, Egyptian gods are just one small part of the cosmic absurdity. We've also got the Greeks to worry about! Hooray! — Rick Riordan

Writing can be a bit like unfolding something ... Slowly, the writer reveals what's happening. But that's only half of what's going on. Writers are very cunning people who are not only unfolding and revealing. Just like conjurors and magicians, they are hiding stuff too. — Michael Rosen

Fiction writers, magicians, politicians and priests are the only people rewarded for entertaining us with their lies — Bangambiki Habyarimana

Most magicians consider the palm an easy move to make. They are inclined to believe that they are 'getting away with it,' when they are in fact fortunate enough to have a polite audience. — Dai Vernon

for the first time, there burst upon me the idea that there might be real marvels all about us, that the visible world might be only a curtain to conceal huge realms uncharted by my very simple theology. And that started in me something with which, on and off, I have had plenty of trouble since - the desire for the preternatural, simply as such, the passion for the Occult. Not everyone has this disease; those who have will know what I mean. I once tried to describe it in a novel. It is a spiritual lust; and like the lust of the body it has the fatal power of making everything else in the world seem uninteresting while it lasts. It is probably this passion, more even than the desire for power, which makes magicians. — C.S. Lewis

The pain is bad magicians ripping off good ones, doing magic badly, and making a mockery of the art. — Ricky Jay

In the civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians" ~ The Witch of the North — L. Frank Baum

Our army is retreating. The Sachakans are following. They will be here soon. We must be ready. The servants are bringing horses." He paused and frowned at one of the apprentices. "Stop wating time asking stupid questions and see if your horse is here!" he snapped. He turned and pointed. "You! Arelenin. I can see someone bringing your horse. Yes, I'd hardly miss that ugly beast if it were on the other side of the country. Go and get it. — Trudi Canavan

Whoever that hermit was, he obviously despised his fellow man, and that meant he was OK in Eliot's book. — Lev Grossman

Magic is not just for the entertainment, but to inspire people to be creative enough with their lives. — Amit Kalantri

You would be amazed how many magicians have died after being bitten by mad rabbits. It's far more common than you might think.
-Angela the Herbalist — Christopher Paolini

Not a single person in that audience believes for a second that what I do up there is real," he says, gesturing in the general direction of the stage. "That's the beauty of it. Have you seen the contraptions these magicians build to accomplish the most mundane feats? They are a bunch of fish covered in feathers trying to convince the public they can fly, and I am simply a bird in their midst. The audience cannot tell the difference beyond knowing that I am better at it. — Erin Morgenstern

He supposed it was inevitable. Dip a person into one particular specialty deeply enough and long enough, and he would automatically begin to assume that specialists in all other fields were magicians, judging the depth of their wisdom by the breadth of his own ignorance ... — Isaac Asimov

First rate magician perform first rate magic effects, second rate magician performs third rate magic effects. — Amit Kalantri

What could you teach me?" Jamie asked, a dimple flashing in his right cheek next to his earring. "Do I need to learn a secret magician handshake? Do I need to learn to do finger wands?"

Gerald burst out laughing. "I - " he said, and seemed somewhat at a loss. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like a finger gun, but only magicians get to do it," Jamie explained, grinning and shifting his schoolbag on one shoulder. He swished one finger in a dramatic circle, making a swooshing sound to accompany the gesture.

"We don't use wands," said Gerald.

"Don't think that wasn't a crushing blow for me. — Sarah Rees Brennan

It seemed that it was not only live magicians which Mr. Norrell despised. He had taken the measure of all the dead ones too and found them wanting. — Susanna Clarke

The York magicians had all looked over the letter and expressed their doubts that any body with such small handwriting could ever make a tolerable magician. — Susanna Clarke

Alas," said Aslan, shaking his head. "It will. Things always work according to their nature. She has won her heart's desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it. — C.S. Lewis

I don't feel like a trauma victim. I feel like a house after a fire. And sometimes I fell like someone who died but stayed in his body. And sometimes I feel like someone else died, like someone else sacrificed everything, so that I can have a normal life.
With wings.
And a tail.
And vampires.
And magicians.
And a boy in my arms, instead of a girl.
And a happy ending - even if it isn't the ending I ever would have dreamt for myself, or hoped for.
A chance. — Rainbow Rowell

Who has more pockets than a magician?
A boy.
Whose pockets contain *more* than a magicians?
A boy's. — Ray Bradbury

I never talk much about my family, but my grandfather was friendly with these guys, with magicians and ventriloquists on the highest levels, and I was just ... interested. — Ricky Jay

As belief in one's capabilities self-evidently leads to increasing capabilities, magicians consider it worthwhile to believe in their ability to accomplish the impossible, even if they only succeed at this occasionally. — Peter J. Carroll

For centuries, magicians have intuitively taken advantage of the inner workings of our brains. — Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Dogs are the magicians of the universe. — Clarissa Pinkola Estes

I'm sitting in the bus station, minding my own business, reading 'Ta-Da!' magazine; a magazine by and for gay magicians, but that's a different story. — Dave Attell

If we do any deed that is unconditionally good, it gives the Dark Magicians the right to do an evil deed. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Well," Nick said as Alan gave him a stern look over the top of his glasses and Nick rolled his eyes and buckled his seat belt. "Let's examine the events of the past twenty-four hours in Exeter. Ravens in the kitchen, snakes in the living room, demon marks on you, magicians sending us stupid messages, and at the end of it all you got was the boy's telephone number. — Sarah Rees Brennan

Las Vegas has become a child's picture-book dream of a city-here a storybook castle, there a sphinx-flanked black pyramid beaming white light into the darkness as a landing beam for UFOs, and everywhere neon oracles and twisting screens predict happiness and good fortune, announce singers and comedians and magicians in residence or on their way, and the lights always flash and beckon and call. Once every hour a volcano erupts in light and flame. Once every hour a pirate ship sinks a man o'war. — Neil Gaiman