Stage Magic Quotes

The only reason you need me at all, John, is because Magick actually works. If it were all just smoke and mirrors and stage magic, if the world worked the way religion or science says it works, then we wouldn't have Vampyres in the first place. I'd be out of a job. ~ Abramelin Keldor

Phony psychics like Uri Geller have had particular success in bamboozling scientists with ordinary stage magic, because only scientists are arrogant enough to think that they always observe with rigorous and objective scrutiny, and therefore could never be so fooled while ordinary mortals know perfectly well that good performers can always find a way to trick people. ~ Stephen Jay Gould

It is the illusion of magic and the magic of illusion that we are primarily interested in- not the privy tricks or the key to the secrets themselves. We seek the bafflement, the contradictions, the amusements, and the innumerable emotions that ripple uneasily through the audience. It is not knowledge we are after, but mystery and disguises. We want to gaze at the impossible. We are hungry for surprises, astonishment. In short, we are looking for a true story, but one impossible to explain in all its complexity. When we discover that story, we shall have found- magic. ~ Edward Claflin

Like stage magic, knowledge before you knew it took place before your very eyes, but you were looking elsewhere. ~ Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood writes: "As with all knowledge, once you knew it, you couldn't imagine how it was that you hadn't known it before. Like stage magic, knowledge before you knew it took place before your very eyes, but you were looking elsewhere." Nearing death, John Updike reflects on A life poured into words - apparent waste intended to preserve the thing consumed. ~ James Gleick

And always, there was the magic of learning things. ~ Betty Smith

He wishes he were a skilled poet, it would fit his chosen image perfectly; the poor, tragic, tortured artiste. But he has no talent for words, neither for paints nor music; his uselessness is tremendously total. ~ Curtis Ackie

Although I like a good scary movie, I've never actually believed anything paranormal or supernatural could be real ... until today. Magic genies, witch spells, and magic troll dolls with funky bright hair are other ideas that have crossed my mind. It also occurs to me that I may be going crazy, and will have to be committed before I finish high school. ~ Jen Naumann

I don't think I write differently when I'm writing a screenplay, as opposed to a stage play or a teleplay. Maybe if I were in a film class and there was time to think about it, we could point out differences. ~ Aaron Sorkin

I did a lot of little girl groups here and there just to get more comfortable on stage. When you're in girl groups, it's a lot different because if you mess up, there's someone on stage to back you up, and finally I got to a point where I knew I could do it on my own. ~ Becky G

I'm like a big 10-year-old when I'm on stage. I just go up there and do whatever I think is cool at the moment. ~ Tyler, The Creator

Oh, more people than not have some magic, they just forget about it. Children use it all the time - what do you think jump rope rhymes are, or bouncing ball games, or cat's cradles? Where do you think that girl, Aiffe, draws her power? Because she refuses to forget, that's all it is. ~ Peter S. Beagle

A culture of commitment and trust isn't a magic bullet. It doesn't guarantee that a product will sell or an idea will bear fruit. But it's the best bet for making sure the right conditions are in place when a great idea comes along. That ~ Charles Duhigg

15 Step is about how if you have mental illness and try to dance you look very funny. Whenever you see me dancing on stage, I'm imitating the mentally ill. ~ Thom Yorke

I'm terrified of saying the wrong thing on stage with bell hooks. ~ Laverne Cox

Collin! What a gorgeous name. Then again his name could have been Cracker Jack and I would have thought it was just as wonderful. ~ Nicole Gulla

Don't be in a hurry to grow up. Hold on to being a boy as long as you can, because once you lose that magic, you're always begging to find it again. ~ Robert McCammon

I think doctors have really come up to speed and understand that more women than men die of heart disease. [But] all the research on heart disease has really been based on men, and needs to be updated with research on women - even very early-stage research is done using male rats! ~ Laura Bush

It is good that you ruined your face, because it brought you to me, but also because beautiful women rarely work strong magic. ~ Catherynne M Valente

Let us see," said Saint Oswald. "A man in black clothes, with powerful magic and ravens at his command, and the hunting rights of a king. This suggests nothing to you? No apparently it does not. Well, it so happens that I think I know the person you mean. He is indeed very arrogant and perhaps the time has come to humble him a little. If I understand you aright, you are angry because he does not speak to you?"
"Yes."
"Well then, I believe I shall loosen his tongue a little."
"What sort of punishment is that?" asked the Charcoal Burner. "I want you to make Blencathra [hill] fall on his head! ~ Susanna Clarke

Magic is the only way to describe it, climbing pitch after pitch of the most perfect, beautifully sculpted granite in the world. ~ Ron Kauk

We wait, starving for moments of high magic to inspire us, but life is full of common enchantment waiting for our alchemists eyes to notice. ~ Jacob Nordby

The whole concatenation of wild and artificial things, the natural ecosystem as modified by people over the centuries, the build environment layered over layers, the eerie mix of sounds and smells and glimpses neither natural nor crafted- all of it is free for the taking, for the taking in. Take it, take it in, take in more every weekend, every day, and quickly it becomes the theater that intrigues, relaxes, fascinates, seduces, and above all expands any mind focused on it. Outside lies utterly ordinary space open to any casual explorer willing to find the extraordinary. Outside lies unprogrammed awareness that at times becomes directed serendipity. Outside lies magic. ~ John R. Stilgoe

There are so many wonderful places created in my mind simply from the books I have read, I have been transported to some unforgettable, magic places but there are so many more I wish to visit and so little time that I fear I never will. ~ Roxie Hibberd (Smith ) ME

Take a moment to reflect upon the existence of the musical The Book of Mormon. Now imagine the security precautions that would be required to stage a similar production about Islam. The project is unimaginable - not only in Beirut, Baghdad, or Jerusalem, but in New York City. ~ Sam Harris

It was important to choose the exact device to drive Charles away. An imperfect magic, or one incorrectly used, might only bring more disaster upon our house. I thought of my mother's jewels, since this was a day of sparkling things, but they might not be strong on a dull day, and Constance would be angry if I took them out of the box where they belonged, when she herself had decided against it. I thought of books, which are always strongly protective, but my father's book had fallen from the tree and let Charles in; books, then, were perhaps powerless against Charles. I lay back against the tree trunk and thought of magic; if Charles had not gone away before three days I would smash the mirror in the hall. ~ Shirley Jackson

Good stories will tell you that facing the lie is the worst terror of all. And there is no talisman or magic sword that is half so potent a weapon as truth ~ Tad Williams

Where do you think they've gone?' he said.
'Where what?' said Lady Ramkin, temporarily halted.
'The dragons. You know. Errol and his wi - female.'
'Oh, somewhere isolated and rocky, I should imagine,' said Lady Ramkin. 'Favourite country for dragons.'
'But it - she's a magical animal,' said Vimes. 'What'll happen when the magic goes away?'
Lady Ramkin gave him a shy smile.
'Most people seem to manage,' she said.
She reached across the table and touched his hand. ~ Terry Pratchett

Life is nothing more than an illusion. It's like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning. ~ William Shakespeare

When I was about five my dad built a stage for me in our basement. A full stage, with a curtain, a backdrop and a dressing room. There were three colored spotlights - a red one, a white one, and a blue one. Blue was for nighttime scenes, and red was for when we were in hell. If the neighborhood kids wanted to use the stage, they had to incorporate me into the play. ~ Paul Reubens

Acting is such a desperately futile profession anyway. Playing out the lives
of other men. Knowing of their failures and successes long before they ever
do. Living, suffering, murdering, dying … all in the space of three hours.
Sometimes only two. And in such a confined little area. And over and over
again every night. Can you imagine anything more perfectly stupid?
Squeezing a whole existence into a measly evening's entertainment on the
stage? And not only that – in the middle of it all – pausing for an
intermission. It makes one's own life seem unbearably preposterous,
doesn't it? ~ Morris Panych

This is an inevitable and easily recognizable stage in every revolutionary movement: reformers must expect to be disowned by those who are only too happy to enjoy what has been won for them. ~ Doris Lessing

There was about a two-year period at the end of the '60s, when I realized I was in the wrong place and entertaining the wrong people with the wrong material and that I was not being true to myself. I went through a metamorphosis into something more authentic for me, a more authentic stage voice and writing voice. ~ George Carlin

For me anyway, until I was exposed to doing improvisation and walking onto a stage without any script, I would have never felt comfortable enough to walk into a room with someone like Larry David and audition. ~ Cheryl Hines

What is the bedrock on which all of our diverse trans populations can build solidarity? The commitment to be the best fighters against each other's oppression. As our activist network grows into marches and rallies of hundreds of thousands, we will hammer out language that demonstrates the sum total of our movement as well as its component communities.

Unity depends on respect for diversity, no matter what tools of language are ultimately used. This is a very early stage for trans peoples with such diverse histories and blends of cultures to form community. Perhaps we don't have to strive to be one community. In reality, there isn't one women's, or lesbian, gay, bi community. What is realistic is the goal to build a coalition between our many strong communities in order to form a movement capable of defending all our lives. ~ Leslie Feinberg