The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks you do.

What the eyes sees, the ear hears, and the mind believes.

The pickpocket is usually very well dressed and of prepossessing appearance.

Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements.

The great day of the Fire-eater - or, should I say, the day of the great Fire-eater - has passed.

I must fling myself down and writhe; I must strive with every piece of force I possess; I bruise and batter myself against the floor, the walls; I strain and sob and exhaust myself, and begin again, and exhaust myself again; but do I feel pain? Never. How can I feel pain? There is no place for it.

The great trouble with magicians is the fact that they believe when they have bought a certain trick or piece of apparatus, and know the method of procedure, that they are full-fledged mystifiers.