I certainly was performing before my writing was published, because I was performing when I was very young. And the thing is I'm very comfortable on ….

I know absolutely nothing about the 20th Century..

One of the reasons I don't like to use the word "tricks" , I do think of them as theatrical pieces, and as pretentious as that might sound, there's a….

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

Theft annoys me more than anything else. The purloining of effects from another magician. Some people think it's massive to steal the secrets of nucl….

Writing is the only thing in my life that doesn't get easier. It just doesn't..

I'm probably the only kid in history whose parents made him stop taking music lessons. They made me stop studying the accordion..

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..

That's one of the ways language evolved, by some very obscure form becoming common usage. And I must say that I'm very intrigued by use of language a….

I started doing radio pieces with no clear, preconceived idea, except that I have a tendency to be theatrical..

Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder biscuits and the best s….

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..

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

There are people who try to figure things out. Often, magic is presented in a way that sets up a challenge that I actually find kind of appalling. Yo….

Once you get into the era of the printed book, it gets a little easier. After years and years, you make a serious survey of that literature, and then….

I like being fooled. When I watch someone who does sleight-of-hand and fools me, it's a great feeling..

I always read what I write out loud, and I did that long before any radio thing. My editor finds that unusual..

I grew up like Athena — covered with playing cards instead of armor — and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic..

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

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

In the winters, I enrolled in the hotel management program at Cornell University. I naively thought that I knew something about sleight-of-hand, ente….