I wouldn't want to try to make a living as an actor. I think actors... I give them a lot of credit for what they go through, but putting myself on the line like that would make me crazy.

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

For me, the most exciting thing is to create good magic that's entertaining for an audience, and it would be lovely if a magician was fooled as well.

The book says we may be through with the past but the past ain't through with us.

Not only do I lie, I take real pleasure in lying, in the transmission of magic effects.

Every acting gig isn't the same, every writing job isn't the same, every live performance isn't the same - the challenge is the level of difficulty or ease, and that may vary.

I love amazing people. I love dazzling them. That's why I think performing magic is one of the greatest things a person can do.

My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.

If it sounds too good to be true, it always is.

I suppose that if I could only do one thing, a solid card effect would be pretty high on the list. That's the root of it all, sleight-of-hand. It's certainly the thing I feel most comfortable with.

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.

If you are faced with a lost opportunity, think of the shifting reality and be ready to catch it when it comes your way. This is the way reality functions.

A man's worth can be judged through those who dislike him.

Those who can't forget are worse off than those who can't remember.

It almost seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.

The grave is a very small hillock, but we can see farther from it, when standing on it, than from the highest mountain in all the world.

Every President hates the Press.

You can't make the incomprehensible comprehensible without losing it completely

Religion! but for thee, prolific fiend, Who peoplest earth with demons, hell with men, And heaven with slaves!

The wrong question to ask of a myth is whether it is true or false. The right question is whether it is living or dead, whether it still speaks to our condition.