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Before you can read, you know the difference between a story and reality. And, of course, by the time you're old enough to do any real damage with an Uzi, you've learned that difference.
Penn Jillette
I'm really happy with all the art that was inspired by religion, and I think I'd be tickled to little tiny pieces if art in the future was inspired by other things.
There are performers who have built their whole career doing magic on TV and can't really perform live at all - don't really have jobs and skills.
Technology adds nothing to art.
The most important part of life is work, it's the flow, it's getting stuff done, feeling like you're doing something.
When I was 15, 16, 17 years old, I spent five hours a day juggling, and I probably spent six hours a day seriously listening to music. And if I were 16 now, I would put that time into playing video games.
There never was a God. 'God is dead' is a halfway measure I won't go with.
I don't think I'm made of the right stuff to be a politician. I think I'm made to be a loose cannon.
Counterintuitive action makes a fellow feel smart.
I had e-mail in 1984! I had an e-mail address then, which means that all you could write to was Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. There were three of us, writing to each other.
I'm a big fan of gospel music, and you cannot be a fan of Rock&Roll, you cannot be a fan of country western music, and you can't really be a fan of jazz without listening to a lot of music that's religious.
I like movies that are scary, but I don't want them to be dirt dumb. I want a movie that gets my blood racing, makes me laugh, but also gives me something to think about, with maybe a little sexy thrown in. Hollywood doesn't make movies like that.
TV networks are dying. The death throes of religion give us jihads. The death throes of television give us reality shows.
Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.
I've never had a drink of alcohol or any drug in my life.
The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.
The fact is that violence gives you a rush.
I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone.
A two-party system is way too good for those two parties.
All David Blaine is is a good-looking magician.
When you tell other people to do stuff they don't know how to do, they tend to freak out.
Everybody wants clean, safe energy. Some people think nuclear is the way to go. Some people think coal is the way to go. Some people think wind is the way to go. And there's always balances on that.
'Celebrity Apprentice' has more integrity and is the most straightforward show I've ever seen.
The only difference between Obama and Bush is that Obama is killing more people.
If I were trying to avoid embarrassment, I wouldn't have stumbled my way through 'Dancing with the Stars.'
I'm totally clean and sober my whole life.
I was always a little embarrassed when there was an act on television that requires a great deal of skill but is a little goofy, and the host comes over and acts like the person doing this skill is some sort of fool for having learned to do something that's very, very difficult.
I never wanted to be a magician. I never wanted to be a comedian. I never wanted to be onstage.
When you look at the actual numbers, the number of people who died after 9/11 was greater than the number of people who died in 9/11, even if you are talking Americans. But you know, I don't like to talk Americans. I want to talk everybody. More innocent people died after 9/11 because of 9/11 than died in 9/11.
I have a very specific definition of censorship. Censorship must be done by the government or it's not censorship.
I intend to do the Penn & Teller show until they pry my cheesy magic wand from my cold dead fingers.
Comedy is taken care of by a free market.
In my run-ins with Christians... I find that they really are good moral people. And we overlap on everything, and they don't seem to be the kind of people that are waiting to hear voices to tell them what to do.
I'm a hardcore libertarian - I want everything legal - but I also believe that you have the right to free association.
One thing you learn doing magic tricks for a living is how close every performance of every magic trick is to disaster. There are no robust magic tricks. They're all hanging from a thread - sometimes literally.
My mom, if you asked her if she was interested in whether or not people gambled, would say no.
Showbiz is just there to give people something to talk about.
In reality, many people let go of religion later in life.
It is really funny to see people that you know acting unpleasantly just because there are TV cameras on.
If I had to imagine omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent power in the universe that chose to make my mother suffer, I don't know how I would make that make sense in the universe.
Direct confrontation, direct conversation is real respect. And it's amazing how many people get that.
Tommy Smothers is a hero of mine.
As much as I disagreed with every second of 'Fahrenheit 9/11', the fact that it is out made me jump for joy.
People like Bill Maher, who brags about being a cynic, it sickens me. I am the least cynical person I know, and I am very, very skeptical.
I'm very happy being big and effeminate.
A lot of people, to attack an outspoken atheist, one of the things they'll do is say, 'You are as bad as the fundamentalist Christians.' And my answer is always, 'I hope so.'
Magic is the Special Olympics of entertainment.
Charities are really good. To a certain extent, the ones you pick are arbitrary.
There's no job in show business that's harder than any other job outside show business.
I have more contact with people who consume, for lack of a better word, my product than any other performers.
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