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.
Interpretation
Performing magic allows one to create wonder and joy in others, showcasing a love for people and creativity.
In this quote, Ricky Jay expresses his passion for magic and the joy it brings not only to himself but also to those who witness it. He sees performing magic as an extraordinary art form that empowers individuals to dazzle and inspire, reinforcing the notion that making others feel amazed is one of the most valuable contributions one can offer to the world.
In practice
During a talent show, I shared this quote to inspire others to pursue their passions in performance arts.
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.
I'm much more interested in lesser-known eccentrics and characters and performers. Like Matthew Buchinger, who was born in Germany in 1674, had no arms or legs and yet did magic, and had 14 kids, and made the most extraordinary calligraphy.
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.
Like every art form, there are jealousies and angers and competitiveness in magic. But there's camaraderie among magicians, whether you perform it for a living or you're an enthusiast.
I grew up like Athena β covered with playing cards instead of armor β and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic.
Art is doing. Art deals directly with life.
I have always wished I could learn to be a potter. I love collecting ceramics; it would be so fulfilling to create something lovely.
For me as a writer, the story has always taken precedence over everything else. I have never sat down to write with broad, sweeping ideas in mind, and certainly never with a specific agenda.
Neanderthal man listened to stories, if one may judge by the shape of his skull. The primitive audience was an audience of shock-heads, gaping around the camp-fire, fatigued with contending against the mammoth or wooly-rhinoceros, and only kept awake by suspense. What would happen next? The novelist droned on, and as soon as the audience guessed what happened next, they either fell asleep or killed him.
When I write plays, I'm already seeing the shapes on stage, of the actors and their interaction, and so on and so forth. I don't think I've ever written one play as an abstract piece, as a literary piece, floating in the air somewhere, to be flushed out later on.
I never knew I was a surrealist till Andre Breton came to Mexico and told me I was.
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