Our Magic Quotes

“What has been withheld by nature may to a great extent be supplied by training.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“every sense is open to misdirection, and thus may be made to serve the ends of a skillful magician.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“irrationally held truths are more harmful than reasoned errors.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“People who pay to see what a performer has to show them, do so for their pleasure. Therefore, it is their pleasure that should have the chief consideration from the man who receives their money. He is not there to please himself.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“The man who knows no fear requires no courage.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“Apart from its presentation, the art of magic has no sensible existence. It is naturally ephemeral, and demands instant appreciation.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“If, in order to understand precisely what has happened, the spectators have to reflect, even for a few moments, upon the various stages of procedure which led up to the denouement, it is certain that, from an artistic point of view, the presentation must be unsatisfactory.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“As grammar is to literature, or versification to poetry, so are sleights and fakes to magic. Such things are the means, not the end of art.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“To produce a magical effect of original conception is a work of high art. It imitates the exercise of magical powers, by means and in a manner conceived by the artist who produced it.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic

“so-called "secrets" are to the magician little more than are, to the actor, the wigs, grease-paints and other "make-up" with which he prepares himself for appearance before the public.”
― Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic