Quotations

"My chief task has been to conquer fear. The public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-training that was necessary to conquer fear."

— Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician, born 1874

"Anyone who believes in magic is a fool."

— Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician, born 1874

"A magician is only an actor - an actor pretending to be a magician."

— Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician, born 1874

"No prison can hold me; no hand or leg irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom."

— Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician, born 1874

"I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat."

— A. E. Housman, English poet, born 1859

"I came into the world without being asked, and when the time for dying comes I shall not be consulted; but between the boundaries of birth and death lies the dominion of choice: to be a doer or a dreamer, to be a lifter or a leaner, to speak out or remain silent, to extend a hand in friendship or to look the other way; to feel the sufferings of others or to be callous and insensitive. These are the choices; it is in the choosing that my measure as a person Is determined."

— Gertrude Housman, American Poet

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities."

— Jean Houston, American scholar, born 1937

"We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released."

— Jean Houston, American philosopher, born 1937

"There is something else that is trying to come through - that lure of becoming - and it does come from the realm of spirit, it does come from the quantum universe, it does come from the great spark that is the threshold of time and history trying to emerge and electrify us."

— Jean Houston, American philosopher, born 1937

"I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God."

— Alan Hovhaness, Armenian-American composer, born 1911

"The composer joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sounds."

— Alan Hovhaness, Armenian-American composer, born 1911

"I think it's in our nature to try to get beyond that next horizon. I think that when we, as a species, are scratching that itch, we're actually following an evolutionary compulsion that is wired into us. I think good things come of it."

— Ron Howard, American actor, born 1954

"You keep knocking on the devil's door long enough and sooner or later someone's gonna answer you."

— Terrence Howard, American actor, born 1969

"Since love came over and knocked me down, then kicked me in the side and fled, I have suffered from a prolonged perplexity. God is the object of my wonder and the closest to me. Especially near sleep. My sheets are like the wings of a guardian angel. There is no other fabric so near to my feelings."

— Fanny Howe, American poet, born 1940