“Until very recently, the artist was a magician who did his magic in public view but kept himself and his effects a matter of mystery.” —Gore Vidal

Neither smoke nor mirrors play a part
In the great magician’s secret art
No legerdemain
Just a cabinet plain
No gamed sword blade or feign of fake sort

I was a magician’s assistant and had to go in the box that they put the swords through, and there’s no trick to it. You literally have to dodge the swords.

―Caroline Flack

The beautiful assistant it’s true
May turn out to be not one but two
Yet the beauty is unharmed
The audience is charmed
As the beauty’s twin makes a debut

When the audience enjoys your performance, you feel like a magician who is doing magic. It’s a great feeling.

―Kailash Kher

The magician’s secret thus is revealed
The cabinet exposes unveiled
The assistant’s sister
Impossible to miss her
With virtually nothing concealed

One of my rules is never explain. A writer is a lot like a magician, if you explain how the trick works then a lot of the magic turns mundane.

―Laurell K. Hamilton

Absent top hat silk scarf and kid gloves
No rabbit up the sleeve or tame doves
The magician imparts
The secret of the art
For the sake of the labor of love

Labor is the fabled magician’s wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

―James Weldon Johnson