Teller Quotes

When a magician lets you notice something on your own, his lie becomes impenetrable.

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

I'm a British psychological illusionist, which is a term I made up, but I do these kind of mind-reading and psychological experiments. There's nothing magical about it at all.

Scientists are the easiest to fool. ... They think in straight, predictable, directable, and therefore misdirectable, lines. The only world they know is the one where everything has a logical explanation and things are what they appear to be. Children and conjurors-they terrify me. Scientists are no problem; against them I feel quite confident.

Everything that I spent my entire life dedicated to, which is this art of mentalism, of magic... I don't see it and feel it and experience it like I first did when I was getting involved in this art. I try to look at it as a spectator but unless I get amnesia I still can't overlook that. I can appreciate the performance but I would love to be fooled.

Magicians are the most honest people in the world; they tell you they're gonna fool you, and then they do it.

I know magicians and I know magic and I say this: all magicians lie and this one more than most.

A lot of the demonstrations that I do, when I get inside people's minds, is understanding human behavior and understanding how people think and getting their patterns down so I know how to create the illusion that I get inside their brain.

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

In circuses, there is a lot of magic. Things become other things.

He spent hours and hours and hours practising these conjuring tricks. It's just such a curious thing.

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.

If I had auditioned for 'Merlin' on magic alone, I don't think I'd have got it. Like any kid, I probably had a magic kit, but it's not something I ever pursued. I've never watched a magic show like David Copperfield or used him to base my character on, but I really like David Blaine and Darren Brown. They are doing wonders.

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.

The magician and the politician have much in common: they both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing.

Of course, in all magic tricks there's a secret.

Dai Vernon, the greatest sleight of hand figure in the history of the art, rarely performed. But he invented magic and had an enormous influence on the whole range of sleight of hand. And so often, the magic he was doing was to fool other magicians.

Every time you perform a magic trick, you're engaging in experimental psychology. If the audience asks, 'How the hell did he do that?' then the experiment was successful.

If people are fans of 'Mindfreak,' they are going to be so excited with 'Believe.' They are actually going to see those illusions that people think can only happen with trick photography.

The skills that we have are the actual magic skills - not the performing skills. We have to separate those. But the actual skills that make the tricks work, we don't get to use again.

The problem with stage magic is that it looks really good, but everyone knows there's a trick box.

As a kid, I kind of spent my life being amazed by being tricked. I love being tricked. I still love it today.

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?'

The real secret of magic lies in the performance.

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