“Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk.”
~ Susanna Clarke, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
“Magic is a matter of focusing the disciplined will. But sometimes the will must be abandoned. The secret lies in knowing when to exercise control, and when to let go.”
― Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lady of Avalon
“As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”
~ Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic
“Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift. Your sister may be able to see the future, but you yourself can shape it, boy. Do not forget that… there are many kinds of magic, after all.”
~ Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
“Real magic is not about gaining power over others: it is about gaining power over yourself.”
Magic is not a practice. It is a living, breathing web of energy that, with our permission, can encase our every action.
I want to be magic. I want to touch the heart of the world and make it smile. I want to be a friend of elves and live in a tree. Or under a hill. I want to marry a moonbeam and hear the stars sing. I don’t want to pretend at magic anymore. I want to be magic.
~ CHARLES DE LINT, attributed, Creatureton High
“Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore.”
~ NEIL GAIMAN, The Books of Magic: The Invisible Labyrinth
Sandra’s seen a leprechaun,
Eddie touched a troll,
Laurie danced with witches once,
Charlie found some goblins gold.
Donald heard a mermaid sing,
Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known
I’ve had to make myself.
~ SHEL SILVERSTEIN, “Magic”
When you’re touched by magic, nothing’s ever quite the same again. What really makes me sad is all those people who never have the chance to know that touch. They’re too busy, or they just don’t hold with make-believe, so they shut the door without really knowing it was there to be opened in the first place.
~ CHARLES DE LINT, What the Mouse Found and Other Stories
I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.
~ R. A. SALVATORE, Streams of Silver
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
~ ROALD DAHL, The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets
“True Magic is the greatest of all natural sciences, because it includes a knowledge of visible and invisible nature. It is not only a science but an art, because it cannot be learned out of books and must be acquired by practical experience.”
~ L. W. DE LAURENCE, Great Book of Magical Art
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