Simon Callow Quotes

I'm not a big fan of doing it because I get really frustrated because I can't do any of the tricks, but I love to watch magic.

I definitely went through my magic phase. I think all little boys do at some point or another - they get fascinated by magic tricks.

My interest was magic, believe it or not. I became an amateur magician and did something like 400 magic shows through my teen years.

If you want to talk about magic, the stuff that blows me away is the stuff that's done close up.

It was just like a digital fixation with cards and math and science and then I started to look at images of great magicians from Houdini down the line.

For the most part, any serious magic show is not using very much technology newer than theatrical lights.

Magic is like special effects live, and I love to perform, so it sounded like doing magic tricks were a good way to entertain people.

I've always done magic as a hobby. I've done it professionally, too.

I never quite know how to describe what I do. I normally just say, 'Oh, I'm a magician', which probably puts fairly naff ideas in people's minds but is pleasantly conversation-stopping.

I always wanted to do magic tricks - I feel like that could be the the next wave.

I think magic, whether I'm holding my breath or shuffling a deck of cards, is pretty simple. It's practice, it's training, and it's - It's practice, it's training and experimenting, while pushing through the pain to be the best that I can be.

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.

My interest in magic was kindled by Steve Martin, the comedian I'd gone to high school with.

Magic is the oldest part of the show business profession. It can now be used as a forward-thinking tool to build a child's confidence. It has been an amazing part in many entertainers' lives, including Steve Martin and the late Johnny Carson.

Whether you're shuffling a deck of cards or holding your breath, magic is pretty simple: It comes down to training, practice, and experimentation, followed up by ridiculous pursuit and relentless perseverance.

One day, I saw a magic show, and I was like, 'I have to learn how to do this!' Every time I went to Las Vegas, I had to get at least two or three tricks from the magic shops.

When I was six years old, I fell in love with magic. For Christmas, I got a magic box and a very old book on card manipulation. Somehow, I was more interested in pure manipulation than in all the silly little tricks in the box.

I'm friends with Criss Angel. Criss has offered me a million times to go downstairs and see the setup. I don't want to see it. I just want to go, 'God, how did you do that?'

I started performing when I was 9 or 10, doing magic.

I had a magic kit. I never really followed through on it, but I had my phase of wanting to do it, sure.

Magic is really performing special effects live.

David Blaine, I think, was the first TV magician to really turn the camera around and make it about the spectator's experience. That's really what magic is all about.

What I do is rooted in magic - it's got a big foot planted firmly in conjuring, even if the other foot's planted in psychological techniques.

Magic and new technology have always walked hand in hand - even back in the days of Robert Houdin.

I don't think you can say something is or isn't magic. That's what was cool about Houdini, because he was a magician who had a magic show, but he was also an escape artist, and they kind of, over time, blended together. They both kind of enhance each other, I think.