c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Time is the only magic, he said, "And Marids swim through time like the sea. Think: if you hurt yourself, and I bandage it, and after weeks and weeks it gets well and there's no scar, that's not magic at all. But if you hurt yourself and I touch you and it heals in a moment, you'd call me magic before your skin closed. It's not magic to cook a feast, roasting and baking and frying for hours, but if you blink and it's steaming in front of you, it's a spell. If you work for what you want and save for it and plan it out just as precisely as you possibly can, it's not even surprising if you get it on the other side of a month or a year. But if you snap your fingers and it happens as soon as you want t, every wizard will want to know you socially. If you life straight through a hundred years and watch yourself unfold at one second per second, one hour per hour, that's just being alive. If you go faster, you're a time traveler. If you jump over your unfolding and see how it all comes out, that's fate. But's all healing and cooking and planning and living, just the same. The only difference is time.
— Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
Not at all. You look as though magic has taken hold of you. It must be magic because I don't know how you can draw like that. I can barely manage a stick figure.
— Sharon Biggs Waller, A Mad, Wicked Folly
Henry successfully kept his mind on the game, which might seem strange for a boy who slept beside a wall of magic. But baseball was as magical to him as a green, mossy mountain covered in ancient trees. What's more, baseball was a magic he could run around in and laugh about. While the magic of the cupboards was not necessarily good, the smell of leather mixed with dusty sweat and spitting and running through sparse grass after a small ball couldn't be anything else.
— N.D. Wilson, 100 Cupboards
(There was an idea much beloved and written about by this country’s philosophers that magic had to do with negotiating the balance between earth and air and water; which is to say that things with legs or wings were out of balance with their earth element by walking around on feet or, worse, flying above the earth in the thin substance of air, obviously entirely unsuitable for the support of solid flesh. The momentum all this inappropriate motion set up in their liquid element unbalanced them further. Spirit, in this system, was equated with the fourth element, fire. All this was generally felt to be a load of rubbish among the people who had to work in the ordinary world for a living, unlike philosophers living in academies. But it was true that a favourite magical trick at fetes was for theatrically-minded fairies to throw bits of chaff or seed-pods or conkers in the air and turn them into things before they struck the ground, and that the trick worked better if the bits of chaff or seed-pods or conkers were wet.)Slower creatures were less susceptible to the whims of wild magic than faster creatures, and creatures that flew were the most susceptible of all. Every sparrow had a delicious memory of having once been a hawk, and while magic didn’t take much interest in caterpillars, butterflies spent so much time being magicked that it was a rare event to see ordinary butterflies without at least an extra set of wings or a few extra frills and iridescences, or bodies like tiny human beings dressed in flower petals. (Fish, which flew through that most dangerous element, water, were believed not to exist. Fishy-looking beings in pools and streams were either hallucinations or other things under some kind of spell, and interfering with, catching, or—most especially—eating fish was strictly forbidden. All swimming was considered magical. Animals seen doing it were assumed to be favourites of a local water-sprite or dangerously insane; humans never tried.)
— Robin McKinley, Spindle's End
For if a man by magical arts and sacrifices will bring down the moon, and darken the sun, and induce storms, or fine weather, I should not believe that there was anything divine, but human, in these things, provided the power of the divine were overpowered by human knowledge and subjected to it.
— Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings
You want me to lie for you?" Aidan asked, watching
— Andrea Hairston, Redwood and Wildfire
Maybe he's not coming,' I whispered to Damar. 'He's crazy after all. Maybe something shiny caught his attention and he forgot about me.
— Diana Graves, Mortal Sentry
When I was a teen, I liked to hang out around popular girls, I thought they had some magic, secrets that only they knew and I wanted to learn it... Though pretty soon I realized... popular girls were just like spam... they promised a lot, but only thing they had and could use were their well-built bodies and ability to apply make-up here and there. Mostly they were deceptive and had no senses... they had no idea about friendship, kindness and beauty as it is. Friendship for them was not something more than poor relations, sort of like in "God Father". Love for them was not something bigger than sex. Kindness for them was to have a kitty or a dog (which was already very rare case)... And beauty for them was... well, you can imagine. Concentrated selfishness
— Galina Nelson
A Bank is but a college of Fiscal Magic.
— Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
Whenever anyone harbored ill will toward the beast or said he'd got what he deserved, the spell increased and the evil grew stronger and stronger in the gargoyle. It became more and more difficult for people to forgive-and love-not only the beast, but each other as well. This, too, made the evil increase.
— S.L. Whyte, Stelladaur: Finding Tir Na Nog
There is no one way to be a magician any more than there is only one way to be human.
— Laura Lam, Shadowplay
'It would be great not to have to deal with any of this. When I found out, I wished Killian could have wiped my memories so I wouldn't have to know that all this shit exists. I was like, "Vampires can get rid of memories. What are you good for?" But it is what it is.' 
— Tara Lain, Cataclysmic Shift
Those secrets residing in their hearts and minds held magnificent Energy. Humans were too inept to see it as anything but evil.
— Auden Johnson, The Sciell
There's a thing that happens in Hollywood, when you hand in a script with magic in it, and the people at the studio who read it say "We don't quite understand... can you explain the rules? What are the rules here? The magic must have rules" and sometimes when they say that to me I explain that I am sure it does, just as life has rules, but they didn't give me a rule book to life when I was born, and I've been trying to figure it out as I go along, and I am sure it is the same thing for magic; and sometimes I explain that, yes, the magic has rules, and if they read again carefully they can figure out what they are; and sometimes I sigh and put in a line here and a line there that spells things out, says, YES THESE ARE THE RULES YOU DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION and then everyone is very happy.
— Neil Gaiman
And magic exists to break the rules.
— Jan Siegel, Prospero's Children
I practice neither black nor white magic.What I do is a technology that I use for my own individual purposes. I don’t strive to be a member of a club.
— Christopher Rankin, Ann Marie's Asylum
If it was that easy, the American military would have figured it out years ago.
— Christopher Rankin, Ann Marie's Asylum
It can be a beautiful experience to look for the magic that is hidden within the realm of our lives
—  but let's not let the process blind us to the majesty that is right in front of us.
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, Shadowplay
Books are another kind of magic.
— G. Lyness
His eyes widened. “Are you some kind of mutant human? Like a fire user? And I use mutant as a compliment, you know. I wouldn’t think less of you.
— Richelle Mead, The Golden Lily
Madness,' Nick called. 'That's all I've found here. Does Avalon breed insanity? Is that the nature of magic, to drive everyone out of their minds?
— Brom, The Child Thief
The Healing spells on his chest were certainly earning their keep tonight. Sullivan got to his feet. The lack of noise from the courtyard indicated that his team had gotten all the mechanical men. “Thanks.”Toru just grunted a noncommittal response as he lifted the feed tray to check the condition of his borrowed machine gun. They didn’t see the final robot inside until it turned on its eye and illuminated the Iron Guard in blue light.Sullivan’s Spike reversed gravity, and the gigantic machine fell upward to hit the steel beams in the ceiling. Sullivan cut his Power and the robot dropped. It crashed hard into the floor where it lay twitching and kicking. The two of them riddled the mechanical man with bullets until the light died and it lay still in a spreading puddle of oil.“Normally, this would be the part where you thank me for returning the favor and saving your life.”“Yes. Normally… If we were court ladies instead of warriors,” Toru answered. “Shall we continue onward or do you wish to stop and discuss your feelings over tea?”Sullivan looked forward to the day that the two of them would be able to finish their fight. “Let’s go.
— Larry Correia, Spellbound
Music can make you feel things that aren’t yours—sadness, or love, or joy. A good song has a magic to it. It pulls you in and the feelings in the music take over and you become the music, you become the song.
— Michelle Frost, Wisdoms of the Light
Not one word was said by Moses or Aaron as to the wickedness of depriving a human being of his liberty. Not a word was said in favor of liberty. Not the slightest intimation that a human being was justly entitled to the product of his own labor. Not a word about the cruelty of masters who would destroy even the babes of slave mothers. It seems to me wonderful that this God did not tell the king of Egypt that no nation could enslave another, without also enslaving itself; that it was impossible to put a chain around the limbs of a slave, without putting manacles upon the brain of the master. Why did he not tell him that a nation founded upon slavery could not stand? Instead of declaring these things, instead of appealing to justice, to mercy and to liberty, he resorted to feats of jugglery. Suppose we wished to make a treaty with a barbarous nation, and the president should employ a sleight-of-hand performer as envoy extraordinary, and instruct him, that when he came into the presence of the savage monarch, he should cast down an umbrella or a walking stick, which would change into a lizard or a turtle; what would we think? Would we not regard such a performance as beneath the dignity even of a president? And what would be our feelings if the savage king sent for his sorcerers and had them perform the same feat? If such things would appear puerile and foolish in the president of a great republic, what shall be said when they were resorted to by the creator of all worlds? How small, how contemptible such a God appears!
— Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of Moses
It was as if a door had opened somewhere. Or possibly a series of doors. There was a sensation as of a breeze blowing into the house and bringing with it the half-rememberedscents of childhood. There was a shift in the light which seemed to cause all the shadows in the room to fall differently. There was nothing more definite than that, and yet, as oftenhappens when some magic is occurring, both Drawlight and the lady had the strongest impression that nothing in the visible world could be relied upon any more. It was as if one might put out one's hand to touch any thing in the room and discover it was no longerthere.
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
A great piece of music make people to close their eyes but a great magic effect make their eyes wide open.
— Amit Kalantri
Jill's face was hard when PE ended, and I had the feeling she was trying not to cry. I tried talking to her in the locker room, but she simply shook her head and headed off for the showers. I was about to go there myself when I heard a shriek. Those of us who were still by the lockers raced to the shower room to see what was happening.Laurel jerked the curtain back from her stall and came running out, oblivious to the fact that she was naked. I gaped. Her skin was covered in a fine sheen of ice. Water droplets from the shower had frozen solid on her skin and in her hair, though in the steamy heat of the rest of the room, they were already starting to melt. I glanced over to the shower itself and noticed that the water coming out of the faucet was also frozen solid.
— Richelle Mead, Bloodlines
I am your stone of necessity calling up spirits from rain puddles—your Magus of words
— John Geddes
The feelings and the memories and the perceptions in me are my own, they are terrible and secret and if I can turn them out, if I can display them on canvas… or even on my skin if I must…” He turned his head and looked at her. “Then they are special. Do you see? I create from my secrets, from the halls in my soul.
— Kendra L. Saunders
If Heaven was a summer sky and a TV left on mute, then the Underworld was a starry night and an electric guitar with amps.
— Charity Parkerson, The Wizard & The Wanton
Curiouser and curiouser," he says. I smile at the reference. Carroll was totally a witch. The secrets of our world are written into that book.
— Danielle Ellison, Salt
A magician reveals himself not only by the magic he presents but also by the respect and entertainment he gives to his audience.
— Amit Kalantri
Time is self absorbed, takes what it wants and doesn't return the favor. It is greedy, its pockets full of the lives of those left behind. It is a magician and a thief.
— Leigh Hershkovich, Shattered Illusions
Ha!" he thought. “That will teach me to meddle with magic meant for kings! Norrell is right. Some magic is not meant for ordinary magicians. Presumably John Uskglass knew what to do with this horrible knowledge. I do not. Should I tell someone? The Duke? He will not thank me for it.
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Logic only gives man what he needs,” he stammered. “Magic gives him what he wants.
— Tom Robbins
The genius of a great magician is as impressive as the genius of a great scientist.
— Amit Kalantri
...there’s no magic in places. Only people, and precious little of that; less and less the older you get.
— Simon Bestwick, The Best Horror of the Year Volume Four
As a magician you will miss the hundred percent of the applause if you don't perform.
— Amit Kalantri
The thing is heavy. --I'm talking the whole Harry Potter series put together heavy. Those are some great books. Totally inaccurate, but great.
— Danielle Ellison, Salt
I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when I get there, but that's why someone invented the fine art of improv. Or, when that fails, stalling.
— Danielle Ellison, Salt
If you are a magician then you can always do a lot more magic than you think you can.
— Amit Kalantri
This time he had no choice but to look into her eyes. He did not look away. It was the bright fierce gaze that she remembered so vividly from their first meeting. He’d reminded her of an eagle, the Castellan of Amyth
— Michelle Frost, Wisdoms of the Light
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
We always underestimated our own participation in magic. That is, we thought of magic as something that existed with or without us. But that’s not true. Things are not magical because they’ve been conjured for us by some outside force. They are magical because we create them, and then deem them so. Ryan and Avery will say the first moment they spoke, the first moment they danced, was magical. But they were the ones—no one else, nothing else—who gave it the magic. We know. We were there. Ryan opened himself to it. Avery opened himself to it. And the act of opening was all they needed. That is the magic.
— David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing
Poor are those who have eyes but cannot see... ☥
— Luis Marques, Kemet - The Year of Revelation
To face a real daemon, you must first look inwards and conquer your own darkness. ☥
— Luis Marques
Music has more rules than math or magic and it's twice as dangerous as both or either.
— Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
Light and Darkness. One cannot exist without the other. There is no true Master, without the power of balance. ☥
— Luis Marques, Kemet - The Year of Revelation
Sometimes what we want or don't want doesn't matter in the end. Sometimes magic doesn't listen after all.
— Janni Lee Simner, Bones of Faerie
A unifying factor between the different traditions and lineages of Tantra, is that it is feminine in nature. It acknowledges the feminine as the basis from which all the practices spring. Therefore, Tantra is by its nature, the understanding that all phenomenal existence, the universe, or cosmos, that we experience is feminine in nature.
— Zeena Schreck
The magic in that country was so thick and tenacious that it settled over the land like chalk-dust and over floors and shelves like sticky plaster-dust. (House-cleaners in that country earned unusually good wages.) If you lived in that country, you had to de-scale your kettle of its encrustation of magic at least once a week, because if you didn't, you might find yourself pouring hissing snakes or pond slime into your teapot instead of water. (It didn't have to be anything scary or unpleasant, especially in a cheerful household - magic tended to reflect the atmosphere of the place in which it found itself -- but if you want a cup of tea, a cup of lavender-and-gold pansies or ivory thimbles is unsatisfactory.)
— Robin McKinley, Spindle's End
There are Tantrics who deliberately break taboos and social norms and then there are other Tantrics who, by means of their practices and the way that they practice, that to society in general, it may have the appearance of breaking social norms but in fact that is just the manifestation of the progress of their practice.
— Zeena Schreck
The hidden mist of forgotten truth is not for the mundane eye to see... ☥
— Luis Marques, Kemet - The Year of Revelation
The power of faith can be a strong force, but the power of knowing is even stronger. ☥
— Luis Marques, Kemet - The Year of Revelation
Beautiful sunrise in the far away mountains, painting the wide horizon with vibrant warm colors, among the chill from the morning breeze. ☥
— Luis Marques
Magic is a very beautiful mystery. Even the ages old magic effects still surprises the most modern men.
— Amit Kalantri
Predator and prey move in silent gestures, on the seductive dance of death, in the shadows cast by the vultures of the night. ☥
— Luis Marques, Asetian Bible
Did you ever face Death and let it stare back at you right in the Eyes? ☥
— Luis Marques, Book of Orion - Liber Aeternus
You may think you're not blind, but can you see in the dark? ☥
— Luis Marques
Magicians and Mentalist predict the future because they create it.
— Amit Kalantri
Zeena Schreck is a Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist, author, musician/composer, tantric teacher, mystic, animal rights activist, and counter-culture icon known by her mononymous artist name, ZEENA. Her work stems from her experience within the esoteric, shamanistic and magical traditions of which she's practiced, taught and been initiated. She is a practicing Tibetan Buddhist yogini, teaches at the Buddhistische Gesellschaft Berlin and is the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM).
— Zeena Schreck
Do not judge others, without first judging yourself. There is no strength without knowing thyself. ☥
— Luis Marques
Never grow up!
— R.W.  Mitchell, Zelda and the Crystal Slippers
Truth is not a right to be claimed, but a gift for those who are able to conquer it. ☥
— Luis Marques, Kemet - The Year of Revelation
He who does not cherish life, does not deserve to be among the living. ☥
— Luis Marques, Book of Orion - Liber Aeternus
your mother is the longest magic show you will ever seeno one knows how her face is target practice for her partner and a shield for her childrenhow she makes a mouthful of blood disappearerases bruiseshardens teethhow she wakes up and dresses her children beforedressing her wounds
— Nia Afyah
Magic is the most interesting art because people not necessarily want to learn to paint after they see a great painting, but they want to learn magic after they see a great magic effect.
— Amit Kalantri
First rate magician perform first rate magic effects, second rate magician performs third rate magic effects.
— Amit Kalantri
Your eyes, ears and mind are imperfect in front of magic.
— Amit Kalantri
Magician is the best storyteller in the world.
— Amit Kalantri
Owen remarked "The basis of science and art is magical - vice versa, magic is art and science. It goes both ways. There's not ever black and white...in magic or in anything to my way of thinking.
— Luvelle Raevan, Sweet Sorcerer
Think like magician, present like magician and perform like magician.
— Amit Kalantri
In this world in which we live simplicity and kindness are the only magic wands that work wonders
— L. Frank Baum, The Emerald City of Oz
Words are more dangerous than swords and guns. They reach further and hurt deeper.
— Luis Marques
Humans are naturally scared and confused beings. They not only fear the unknown, as they live fearing themselves... ☥
— Luis Marques
Suffering took hold of me like a magic spell abolishing all differences between friends and strangers.
— Diane Ackerman, The Zookeeper's Wife
No matter how hard you try, after the Day there will always be a Night...
— Luis Marques, Kemet - The Year of Revelation
Humans spend more time finding ways to fight and criticize who they consider a threat than actually learning how to overcome that threat.
— Luis Marques
An optimist and a gentleman, I like that in my men.
— Karen Azinger, The Assassin's Tear
We live in Secret. We live in Silence. And we live Forever...
— Luis Marques, Asetian Bible
Life is a chance at Evolution. Overcome yourself and Become. ☥
— Luis Marques, Book of Orion - Liber Aeternus
However, the real beauty is not in the words themselves, but in the listener that has the power to understand them.
— Luis Marques
Sometimes the dim veil between sanity and insanity is perception.
— Luis Marques
Words are sigils that can hide the coded language of your Soul. ☥
— Luis Marques, Book of Orion - Liber Aeternus
The deepest of powers are often the most subtle. Something that most fail to realize... ☥
— Luis Marques
Knowledge is a sacred gem that must be conquered,wielded and empowered. To access such gnosis is not a right,but a privilege of the evolved.
— Luis Marques, Asetian Bible
An evolved and balanced Ego can be a valuable tool for the Self. But a blinding one is always among the first footsteps into Oblivion. ☥
— Luis Marques
The night is Ours. Rejoicing in the ethereal realms where We are kings. Blessed souls of forgotten immortality. They fear Us in every grasp.
— Luis Marques
To become an Asetian is to die and be reborn. To forget all you have learned and learn all you have forgotten. ☥
— Luis Marques, Asetian Bible
In darkness lies a mystery that has the power to shine brighter than true light. ☥
— Luis Marques
It is safer to face a strong enemy in the field of battle, than to fight a war by the side of a weak friend.
— Luis Marques
When fully united, without ego or weakness, we become the greatest invisible force this world has ever witnessed.
— Luis Marques
An Asetian never tries to talk louder than the crowd surrounding him. An Asetian becomes that crowd.
— Luis Marques, Asetian Bible
Narsh!
— Casey Caracciolo, The Shadow of the Gauntlet
But do not take this responsibility lightly, my boy. The Gauntlet casts an ominous shadow.
— Casey Caracciolo, The Shadow of the Gauntlet
You don't find Truth, but Truth finds you. ☥
— Luis Marques, Asetian Bible
All his senses screamed in warning, the very air reeking of forbidden magic, but duty call him forward.
— Karen Azinger, The Assassin's Tear
Careful, mother, or you could end up dangling in another's webs.
— Karen Azinger, The Flame Priest
We've seen firsthand the footprints of the Mordant's treachery.
— Karen Azinger, The Flame Priest
Most tales carry a kernel of truth, else they're soon forgotten.
— Karen Azinger, The Skeleton King
The universe will bring people whatever they want…Let the magic happen. It’s always there. Abundance and love are always there. Believe in the highest good. There is a higher essence to everything. The realm you’re in has a heaviness that mutes energy. You can penetrate through it, no matter how dark and heavy. Sometimes it has nothing to do with karma. Just don’t forget to keep it open. Don’t get too bogged down…Prosperity can happen at any time. I want to give you everything that you need.-Kuan Yin
— Hope Bradford, Beneficial Law of Attraction: The Manifestation Teachings
In the beginning there was only Darkness.
— Karen Azinger, The Steel Queen
Seek Knowledge, Protect Knowledge, Share Knowledge.
— Karen Azinger, The Steel Queen
Divinity is accident of nature, magic is the work of an art.
— Amit Kalantri
Beauty to beguile, spies to ensnare, and gold, always gold, to tempt, to trap, to control.
— Karen Azinger, The Steel Queen
What I say is misdirection, what you see is an illusion and what results is magic.
— Amit Kalantri
Desire is often the greatest poison.
— Karen Azinger, The Poison Priestess
The secret of good magic is another magic.
— 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
Magic is logic.
— Amit Kalantri
A great magician is as divine as God and his stage is as majestic as the paradise.
— Amit Kalantri
Give royal treatment to your original magic effects, because one of the effects might make you the king of magic.
— Amit Kalantri
This is the story of a boy named Pete Coutinho, who had a spell put on him. Some people might have called it a curse. I don't know. It depends on a lot of things, on whether you've got gipsy blood, like old Beatriz Sousa, who learned a lot about magic from the wild gitana tribe in the mountains beyond Lisbon, and whether you're satisfied with a fisherman's life in Cabrillo.Not that a fisherman's life is a bad one, far from it. By day you go out in the boats that rock smoothly across the blue Gulf waters, and at night you can listen to music and drink wine at the Shore Haven or the Castle or any of the other taverns on Front Street. What more do you want? What more is there?And what does any sensible man, or any sensible boy, want with that sorcerous sort of glamor that can make everything incredibly bright and shining, deepening colors till they hurt, while wild music swings down from stars that have turned strange and alive? Pete shouldn't have wanted that, I suppose, but he did, and probably that's why there happened to him - what did happen. And the trouble began long before the actual magic started working.("Before I Wake...")
— Henry Kuttner, Masters of Horror
A long time ago I lived in Lisbon,' she said, in softly slurred Portuguese that made the name of the city Leesh-boa. 'But before that, meus neto, my tribe was in the mountains where there are only old things, like the trees and the rocks and the streams. There are truths to be learned from the old things -' She hesitated, and her brown, shrunken claw closed over Pete's hand. 'Do you know the truth, Pedrinho?'("Before I Wake...")
— Henry Kuttner, Masters of Horror
A bad magician never gets the good props.
— Amit Kalantri
A great magician is not more magical than other magicians
—  he is just more magical in his presentation.
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
A magician with decreasing practice sessions will give defective performances.
— Amit Kalantri
Like seduction, the Priestess took poisoning to an art form.
— Karen Azinger, The Poison Priestess
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
Sometimes for the spectators a great magic effect is worth a life’s experience.
— Amit Kalantri
Reflections of the battlements shimmered in the deep green moat, casting an image of enduring strength, an image that defied the very siege of time.
— Karen Azinger, The Flame Priest
Always give the rabble something to love and something to hate.
— Karen Azinger, The Poison Priestess
Splendor was the decree of the day.
— Karen Azinger, The Skeleton King
Tiffany got up early and lit the fires. When her mother came down, she was scrubbing the kitchen floor, very hard.“Er…aren’t you supposed to do that sort of thing by magic, dear?” said her mother, who’d never really got the hang of what witchcraft was all about.“No, Mum, I’m supposed not to,” said Tiffany, still scrubbing.“But can’t you just wave your hand and make all the dirt fly away, then?”“The trouble is getting the magic to understand what dirt is,” said Tiffany, scrubbing hard at a stain. “I heard of a witch over in Escrow who got it wrong and ended up losing the entire floor and her sandals and nearly a toe.”Mrs. Aching backed away. “I thought you just had to wave your hands about,” she mumbled nervously.“That works,” said Tiffany, “but only if you wave them about on the floor with a scrubbing brush.
— Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith
Listen with an open heart
— William  O'Brien
I am here because I have to be here, as here I am supposed to be! All things should be, and usually are, found in their rightful places. Can you imagine how chaotic the world would be if nothing was in its correct place?
— William  O'Brien, Peter: A Darkened Fairytale
Devic MagicWoodland sprites, elves and nymphsWaltz in time take a glimpseFairies hide the forest witMushrooms fly, agarics hit
— William  O'Brien, Peter, Enchantment and Stardust: The Poems
Devil’s WishA bowl of spellsSwirls a mixSmoke and bubblesSeek the fixYoung boy's eyeAnd fever fewWitches grassSome mandrake root
— William  O'Brien, Peter, Enchantment and Stardust: The Poems
In my dream, it was the tongue of what is, and anything spoken in it becomes real, because nothing said in that language can be a lie. It is the most basic building brick of everything.
— Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
PeterSwirling dreamsDragons knewTouching life to winDeep inside many other worldsWhere should we begin?
— William  O'Brien
Believe is a powerful word to see and to say. But that morning, I felt it. And feeling it was the best of all. I knew something wonderful was about to happen to me. I didn't know what, or why, or how. But I believed.
— Natalie Lloyd, A Snicker of Magic
People and events of wonder and magic are the lifeblood of the world.
— Jason Mott, The Returned
I know." He leaned back, looking into her eyes. "But I'm not going anywhere, Jenny. I'll fight to stay with you.
— Amanda Gray, Endless
Art is a sense of magic.
— Stan Brakhage
I didn't say another word to Mama that night, but I could feel something good even then: the YES in my heart, the swirling-around in my belly, the prickly tingling all the way from the freckle on my finger to the tip of my pinky toe. That much wonderful could only mean one thing: There was still magic in Midnight Gulch.
— Natalie Lloyd, A Snicker of Magic
He said he preferred to feel the earth sing through his feet, and that shoes stopped you from hearing the song of the earth.
— Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale
I am the Lilum. Time. Truth. Destiny. The Endless River. The Wheel of Fate. You do not command me.
— Kami Garcia
Patience is the virtue that forges great men.
— Chris Vincent, The Prisoner
She squinted at his nametag. Her eyes weren't quite working. "What's your name?" "Stig.""Stick?" she asked, half ready to believe it. He shook his head and pointed his long index finger at the name stitched on his uniform. "S-T-I-G. Stig."Harriet's breath caught. "I can't believe it. I've been looking for you.
— Kimberly Karalius, Pocket Forest
I believe that love, like magic, casts its own spell of enchantment.
— Debbie Herbert
Work happens like in Harry Potter. Magic I mean.
— Aditi Mathur Kumar, Soldier and Spice - An Army Wife's Life
[the sheep] sidled up beside him and bumped him lovingly with its head. Val looked at it sadly. "I am sorry, you ugly creature," he said. "I have not used my magic in a long time, and I am very out of practice.
— Robin McKinley, Shadows
Hannah Rose Brown was not quite 13 years old when she discovered her family was cursed. THE PUZZLE RING
— Kate Forsyth, The Puzzle Ring
Love spells are nothing but wives' tales. You can't play magic inside the heart, for it's more powerful than any spell. Lust you can order up with a wink, desire with a smile. But love is love, and there is nothing can touch it.
— Nora Roberts, Tears of the Moon
If I could understand everything the way I do now, I could make it all--and then it just stopped. Leaving me with that feeling like when you figure out something brilliant and profound in a dream, but you wake up, and all you remember is that you knew this amazing thing, and now it's just out of reach.
— Jeff Parker, Willow: Wonderland
In a great number of the cosmogonic myths the world is said to have developed from a great water, which was the prime matter. In many cases, as for instance in an Indian myth, this prime matter is indicated as a solution, out of which the solid earth crystallized out.
— Svante Arrhenius, Theories of Solutions
For a moment or two before the spell took effect, he was aware of all the sounds around him: rain splashing on metal and leather, and running down canvas; horses shuffling and snorting; Englishmen singing and Scotsmen playing bagpipes; two Welsh soldiers arguing over the proper interpretation of a Bible passage; the Scottish captain, John Kincaid, entertaining the American savages and teaching them to drink tea (presumably with the idea that once a man had learnt to drink tea, the other habits and qualities that make up a Briton would naturally follow).Then silence. Men and horses began to disappear, few by few at first, and then more quickly – hundreds, thousands of them vanishing from sight. Great gaps appeared among the close-packed soldiers. A little further to the east an entire regiment was gone, leaving a hole the size of Hanover-square. Where, moments before, all had been life, conversation and activity, there was now nothing but the rain and the twilight and the waving stalks of rye. Strange wiped his mouth because he felt sick.
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Sorry, that's unfair. Let me warn you. I want you to follow, because no matter what you think you might know, we will always be one step, three steps- seven steps ahead of you, and just when you think you're catching up, that's when we'll be right behind you. And at no time will you be anywhere other than exactly where I want you to be because the closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see.
— J Daniel Atlas
My body was jerking and shaking, and I remembered John when he was in the Tunnels with Lena. The weird jerking and twitching he seemed unable to control.Was this what it felt like to be in the grip of Abraham Ravenwood?
— Kami Garcia
In the art of magic be quick of sleight and slow of climax.
— Amit Kalantri
And all the while Stephen started at me as if I were something magical. Not the ugly way other people sometimes stare at me, like he was meeting someone in a foreign country who spoke his language when no one else could. That's how it's been between us ever since. We understand each other, even when we astound each other.
— Cat Winters, In the Shadow of Blackbirds
During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man's own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favor by means of magic and prayer. The idea of God in the religions taught at present is a sublimation of that old concept of the gods. Its anthropomorphic character is shown, for instance, by the fact that men appeal to the Divine Being in prayers and plead for the fulfillment of their wishes. Nobody, certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an omnipotent, just, and omnibeneficent personal God is able to accord man solace, help, and guidance; also, by virtue of its simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, on the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history. That is, if this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty Being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him?(Albert Einstein, Science, Philosophy, and Religion, A 1934 Symposium published by the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, Inc., New York, 1941; from Einstein's Out of My Later Years, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1970, pp. 26-27.)
— Albert Einstein
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,Empty the haunted air, and gnomèd mine—Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile madeThe tender-person'd Lamia melt into a shade
— John Keats, Lamia
We were born in the '70s, back when twins were rare, a bit magical: cousins of the unicorn, siblings of the elves.
— Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
With or without our knowledge, we are all alchemists.
— Eric Micha'el Leventhal
He had discovered that it was easier – far easier than any one could have supposed – to make oneself mad, but like all magic it was full of obstacles and frustrations. Even if he succeeded in summoning the fairy (which did not seem very likely), he would be in nocondition to talk to him. Every book he had ever read on the subject urged magicians to be on their guard when dealing with fairies. Just when he needed all his wits, he would have scarcely any wits at all.
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Slicker than snot on a door handle.
— Kim Harrison, Dead Witch Walking
I wanted to find something of the beauty of myth that we’ve left behind, carry its shreds before us all, so we could acknowledge it, somehow bring it back to life. I wanted to delve back into that world that cradled us when we were young enough to still touch it, when trolls lived under creek bridges, faeries fluttered under mushroom caps, and the Tooth Fairy only came once you were truly sleeping. I wanted to see if enchantment was somehow still there, simply waiting to be reached. When I felt my loss, I realized that if I could do anything in this life, I wanted to travel he world, searching for those who were still awake in that old dreamtime, and listen to their stories – because I had to know that there were grownups out there who still believed that life could be magical.And in that moment I decided: I am going to find the goddamn faeries.
— Signe Pike, Faery Tale: One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World
So confusing. It was some kind of magic, I knew that for sure, but I didn't understand the subtleties of it all. You'd have thought all those years of HBO and shit would have prepared me better.
— Red Tash, Troll Or Derby
I liked him, but since his particular field of interest was Remote Suggestion--the skill of projecting thoughts into people's heads from a distance--I didn't know whether I actually liked him or he was just suggesting I like him, which was both creepy and unethical. In fact, the whole Remote Suggestion or "seeding" idea had been banned once it was discovered to be the key ingredient in promoting talent less boy bands, which had until then been something of a mystery.
— Jasper Fforde, The Song of the Quarkbeast
Fire and water, logic and reason—those footholds of reality that you mortals hold so near and dear become like so much mist on the plains of the dreamscape.
— Nenia Campbell, Through a Glass, Darkly
I don't understand," says Gerald, alone in his third- class carriage, "how railway trains and magic can go on at the same time."And yet they do.
— E. Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle
That will teach me to meddle with magic meant for kings! Norrell is right. Some magic is not meant for ordinary magicians. Presumably John Uskglass knew what to do with this horrible knowledge. I do not.
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
I wanted to pull out his toenails and poke them in his eyeballs.
— Nicole Peeler, Tempest's Legacy
magic swirls about us like an invisible fog of energy that can be tapped by those gifted enough, using a variety of techniques that center on layered spelling, mumbled incantations, and a burst of concentrated thought channeled through the index fingers. The technical name for this energy is "variable electro-gravitational mutable subatomic force," which doesn't mean anything at all--confused scientists just gave it an important-sounding name so as not to lose face. The usual term is "wizidrical energy," or simply "the crackle.
— Jasper Fforde, The Song of the Quarkbeast
Go.” Granmare pointed at the door. “Let me work in peace.”Balthazar didn’t look back when he left.“Now, my dear,” the witch turned to her, “let me give you what that foolish boy paid for.”“He’s not foolish,” Arianne said. For giving a drop of his blood, the least she could do was defend the annoying oaf. “He’s going out of his way to help me, so if there’s anyone foolish here it’s me.”“My, my, my.” Granmare Baba gasped, spreading her hand at the center of her chest. “You have a mouth on you. I will so enjoy watching what happens to you when the time comes.”A chill went down Arianne’s back. She’d almost been afraid to ask, “What do you mean?”Granmare Baba only smiled her yellow toothy smile before she went about putting things together in a large cauldron that seemed to have magically appeared in the center of the round room.
— Kate Evangelista, Unreap My Heart
FEBRIZIUM();” said Buggeroff, and the foul smell immediately disappeared as if by, well − Magic.
— Sorin Suciu, The Scriptlings
The dragon flew up and settled in the crook of Mina’s hood, and quickly became invisible again.“I don’t trust that thing,” Jared shot back.“Relax, I find him quite cute. Isn’t that right, Ander?” She held up a finger and felt the invisible dragon rub its face against her.“Great, you’ve named it, now you’re gonna want to keep it. But I’m telling you that thing better be house-trained.” He turned to the bookshelf and began to pull open the book to open the hidden exit door.Mina felt Ander leave her shoulder but didn’t let Jared know he was missing. She saw Constance’s teacup float mysteriously above Jared’s head. She clapped her hand over her mouth to contain the laughter. A second later the cup turned over, spilling lukewarm tea on Jared’s unsuspecting head.“Oh, it better not have just peed on me!” he screamed.
— Chanda Hahn, Fable
I could never acceptlife as it was,I could never gobbledown all itspoisonsbu there were parts,tenuous magic partsopen for theasking.
— Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories
Many years ago, plunging was discovered when the moon was in two halves- it's all about dreams, you see
— William  O'Brien, Peter: A Darkened Fairytale
Doubt is unacceptable and should not enter you
—  it is merely evil trying to divert you and increase the difficulty of your task
Kundalini means, according to Zeena ‘She Who is Hidden,’ and points to the dormant goddess in every human being’s body. While the kundalini force is found in muladharachakra, she hypnotizes humans, like maya herself, and renders them slaves to the illusory. Kundalini can only awaken people if she travels up along the spine.'--About Zeena Schreck by Malin Fitger 'Contemporary notions of Kundalini, its background and role within new Western religiosity,' University of Stockholm, 2004
— Zeena Schreck, Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left Hand Path Sex Magic
Bad leather, Viking gods should be naked.
— Amy Sumida, Godhunter
Nothing could be easier than disturbing a status quo instituted by others; the real work of the sinistercurrent is to break the rules we rigidly establish for ourselves.”-Zeena Schreck for "Contemporary notions of Kundalini, its background and role within new Western religiosity," University of Stockholm, Malin Fitger 2004
— Zeena Schreck, Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left Hand Path Sex Magic
I find it far more awesome, wonderful, that creation; our appearance in the world; should be the culmination, or at least one of the latest products of 3,000 Million years of organic evolution, than a kind of country trick, taking a rib out of a man's side in a trance.
— David Attenborough
Zeena Schreck believes that the right-hand path and the left-hand path have traditionally had the same end goal; it is only the method that is different and the fact that adepts on the left-hand path seek liberation in this life.--About Zeena Schreck by Malin Fitger 'Contemporary notions of Kundalini, its background and role within new Western religiosity,' University of Stockholm, 2004
— Zeena Schreck, Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left Hand Path Sex Magic
...that witchcraft requires no potions, familiar spirits, or magic wands. Language upon a silver tongue affords enchantment enough.
— Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence
Zeena believes that the breaking of taboos creates access to blocked energy that is let loose in a forceful way. The left-hand path is about consciously breaking with a ‘sleepwalker orthodoxy’ to be able to act as a fully awaken and conscious individual. In her book, George Orwell (1984) is quoted: “Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” At the same time she notes that the left-hand path is the ‘way of action’. It is not about intellectual contemplation, or worse, just reading about action.'About Zeena Schreck by Malin Fitger from: Contemporary notions of Kundalini, its backgroundand role within new Western religiosity, University of Stockholm, 2004
— Zeena Schreck, Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left Hand Path Sex Magic
You have to believe in magic to see it.
— Leah Blundell
I'm an Atheist. I don't believe in God, Gods, Godlets or any sort of higher power beyond the universe itself, which seems quite high and powerful enough to me. I don't believe in life after death, channeled chat rooms with the dead, reincarnation, telekinesis or any miracles but the miracle of life and consciousness, which again strike me as miracles in nearly obscene abundance. I believe that the universe abides by the laws of physics, some of which are known, others of which will surely be discovered, but even if they aren't, that will simply be a result, as my colleague George Johnson put it, of our brains having evolved for life on this one little planet and thus being inevitably limited. I'm convinced that the world as we see it was shaped by the again genuinely miraculous, let's even say transcendent, hand of evolution through natural selection.
— Natalie Angier
I was testing a hypothesis. But it was right, and then I had a unicorn to deal with. You can't just say, 'Thank you so much, go away now' to a unicorn, the way you can with atomic particles.
— Pamela Dean, The Whim of the Dragon
Number three: Stay away from the church. In the battle over science vs. religion, science offers credible evidence for all the serious claims it makes. The church says, 'Oh, it’s right here in this book, see? The one written by people who thought the sun was magic?' I for one would like to see some proof that there is a God. And if you say 'a baby’s smile' I’m going to kick you right in the stomach.-Stewie
— Seth Mcfarlane