A piece of writing is like a piece of magic. You create something out of nothing.

There is nothing in the world so easy to explain as failure - it is, after all, what everybody does all the time.

This is a very grave matter, punishable by...well, I do not exactly know what, but something rather severe, I should imagine.

Ha!' said the tall man drily. 'He was in high luck. Rich old uncles who die are in shockingly short supply.

It is curious and we magicians collect curiosities, you know.

He smiles but rarely and watches other men to see when they laugh and then does the same.

..The argument he was conducting with his neighbor as to whether the English magician had gone mad because he was a magician, or because he was English.