The Magician quotes
The lines readers remember from The Magician, by W. Somerset Maugham.
27 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. I am a plain, practical man, but I can see to the end of my nose with extreme clearness. Fortunately it is rather a long one.
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“I see no harm in your saying insular,” smiled Arthur. “
I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. I am a plain, practical man, but I can see to the end of my nose with extreme clearness. Fortunately it is rather a long one.
”
She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her, and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret’s comeliness.
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She had a great affection for Margaret, and though her own stock of enthusiasms was run low, she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret’s young enchantment in all that was exquisite.
She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her, and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret’s comeliness.
It was almost with maternal pride that she watched each year add a new grace to that exceeding beauty.
That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and meaning nothing,
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“
That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and meaning nothing,
” smiled Susie.
Magic has but one dogma, namely, that the seen is the measure of the unseen.
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“Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love, and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician.
Magic has but one dogma, namely, that the seen is the measure of the unseen.
”
I prefer to set them all aside, and, since knowledge is unattainable, to occupy myself only with folly.
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I believe that we shall always be ignorant of the matters which it most behoves us to know, and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them.
I prefer to set them all aside, and, since knowledge is unattainable, to occupy myself only with folly.
”
Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells, by the desire to be as God.
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I know all that they know. Why shouldn’t one work on a larger scale, joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don’t know what would be the result. It might be very strange and very wonderful.
Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells, by the desire to be as God.
”
All quotes
Chapter I
The formal garden reminded one of a light woman, no longer young, who sought, with faded finery, with powder and paint, to make a brave show of despair.
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But the trees grew without abandonment, as though conscious of the decorative scheme they helped to form. It was autumn, and some were leafless already. Many of the flowers were withered.
The formal garden reminded one of a light woman, no longer young, who sought, with faded finery, with powder and paint, to make a brave show of despair.
It had those false, difficult smiles of uneasy gaiety, and the pitiful graces which attempt a fascination that the hurrying years have rendered vain.
I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. I am a plain, practical man, but I can see to the end of my nose with extreme clearness. Fortunately it is rather a long one.
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“I see no harm in your saying insular,” smiled Arthur. “
I confess that I have no imagination and no sense of humour. I am a plain, practical man, but I can see to the end of my nose with extreme clearness. Fortunately it is rather a long one.
”
Chapter II
She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her, and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret’s comeliness.
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She had a great affection for Margaret, and though her own stock of enthusiasms was run low, she could enjoy thoroughly Margaret’s young enchantment in all that was exquisite.
She was a plain woman; but there was no envy in her, and she took the keenest pleasure in Margaret’s comeliness.
It was almost with maternal pride that she watched each year add a new grace to that exceeding beauty.
That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and meaning nothing,
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“
That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and meaning nothing,
” smiled Susie.
Fiddlesticks! The fashion is always beautiful.
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“
Fiddlesticks! The fashion is always beautiful.
Last year it was beautiful to wear a hat like a porkpie tipped over your nose; and next year, for all I know, it will be beautiful to wear a bonnet like a sitz-bath at the back of your head.
Chapter III
Madam, your laughter is more soft in mine ears than the singing of Bulbul in a Persian garden.
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“
Madam, your laughter is more soft in mine ears than the singing of Bulbul in a Persian garden.
”
I shall start with the ice, O Marie, to cool the passion with which your eyes inflame me, and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile.
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“
I shall start with the ice, O Marie, to cool the passion with which your eyes inflame me, and then without hesitation I will devour the wing of a chicken in order to sustain myself against your smile.
I shall then proceed to a fresh sole, and with the pea-soup I will finish a not unsustaining meal.”
It gave the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond. It was uncanny.
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At first Susie could not discover in what precisely their peculiarity lay, but in a moment she found out: the eyes of most persons converge when they look at you, but Oliver Haddo’s, naturally or by a habit he had acquired for effect, remained parallel.
It gave the impression that he looked straight through you and saw the wall beyond. It was uncanny.
But another strange thing about him was the impossibility of telling whether he was serious. There was a mockery in that queer glance, a sardonic smile upon the mouth, which made you hesitate how to take his outrageous utterances.
He had the look of a very wicked, sensual priest.
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He had the neck of a bullock. His dark, curling hair had retreated from the forehead and temples in such a way as to give his clean-shaven face a disconcerting nudity. The baldness of his crown was vaguely like a tonsure.
He had the look of a very wicked, sensual priest.
Margaret, stealing a glance at him as he ate, on a sudden violently shuddered; he affected her with an uncontrollable dislike. He lifted his eyes slowly, and she looked away, blushing as though she had been taken in some indiscretion.
False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding, from which my birth amply protects me.
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“
False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding, from which my birth amply protects me.
”
I walked back to my camp and ate a capital breakfast.
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And then suddenly I found that she had collapsed. I had hit her after all. My bullet went clean through her heart, but the spring had carried her forwards. When I scrambled to my feet I found that she was dying.
I walked back to my camp and ate a capital breakfast.
”
Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot,
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“
Your laughter reminds me of the crackling of thorns under a pot,
” he said.
What else is the world than a figure? Life itself is but a symbol.
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“
What else is the world than a figure? Life itself is but a symbol.
You must be a wise man if you can tell us what is reality.”
Magic has but one dogma, namely, that the seen is the measure of the unseen.
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“Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love, and imagination are magic powers that everyone possesses; and whoever knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician.
Magic has but one dogma, namely, that the seen is the measure of the unseen.
”
Everyone can make game of the unknown,
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“
Everyone can make game of the unknown,
” retorted Haddo, with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
Chapter V
I wish you weren’t so beautiful,
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“
I wish you weren’t so beautiful,
” he answered, awkwardly, as though he could scarcely bring himself to say such foolish things. “I’m so afraid that something will happen to prevent us from being happy. It seems too much to expect that I should enjoy such extraordinarily good luck.”
My dear friend, I never know myself how much I believe,
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“
My dear friend, I never know myself how much I believe,
” returned Dr. Porhoët.
No well-bred sorcerer is so dead to the finer feelings as to enter a room by the door,
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“
No well-bred sorcerer is so dead to the finer feelings as to enter a room by the door,
” he answered, with his puzzling smile. “You were standing round the window, and I thought it would startle you if I chose that mode of ingress, so I descended with incredible skill down the chimney.”
I prefer to set them all aside, and, since knowledge is unattainable, to occupy myself only with folly.
Show the passage
I believe that we shall always be ignorant of the matters which it most behoves us to know, and therefore I cannot occupy myself with them.
I prefer to set them all aside, and, since knowledge is unattainable, to occupy myself only with folly.
”
The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity,
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“
The practice of black arts evidently disposes to obesity,
” said Arthur, icily.
He said solemnly: ‘Buy Ashantis, they are bound to go up.’
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“
He said solemnly: ‘Buy Ashantis, they are bound to go up.’
I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation, and they went down steadily.
Chapter VII
Fools and sots aim at happiness, but men aim only at power.
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“And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want money, it is but for the power that attends it, and it is power again that they strive for in all the knowledge they acquire.
Fools and sots aim at happiness, but men aim only at power.
The magus, the sorcerer, the alchemist, are seized with fascination of the unknown; and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind.
Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells, by the desire to be as God.
Show the passage
I know all that they know. Why shouldn’t one work on a larger scale, joining to the knowledge of the old adepts the scientific discovery of the moderns? I don’t know what would be the result. It might be very strange and very wonderful.
Sometimes my mind is verily haunted by the desire to see a lifeless substance move under my spells, by the desire to be as God.
”
Chapter VIII
But water cannot burn,
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“
But water cannot burn,
” she muttered to herself.
Chapter IX
Go home, and you will forget your tears. I command you to be happy.
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“
Go home, and you will forget your tears. I command you to be happy.
”
Chapter X
If a woman had done me such an injury that I wanted to take some horrible vengeance, I think I could devise nothing more subtly cruel than to let her be married to Oliver Haddo.
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“
If a woman had done me such an injury that I wanted to take some horrible vengeance, I think I could devise nothing more subtly cruel than to let her be married to Oliver Haddo.
”
I don’t wish to forget,
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“
I don’t wish to forget,
” he answered, shaking his head. “It’s possible that you will hear from Margaret. She’ll want the things that she has left here, and I daresay will write to you.
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