Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex
Bk. 2, Pt.. 4, Ch. 3: Sexual Initiation. p. 396
The Second Sex (1949)
“The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed.”
On Fairy-Stories (1939)
Context: The story-maker proves a successful 'sub-creator'. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed.
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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien78
British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy … 1892–1973Related quotes
“… disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business….”
Tom Robbins Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Source: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
“No turn, no shift, no courtly arts avail,
Each mask is broken, all illusions fail”
Joel Barlow (1754–1812) American diplomat
The Conspiracy of Kings (1792)
Context: Once draw the sword; its burning point shall bring
To thy quick nerves a never-ending sting;
The blood they shed thy weight of wo shall swell,
And their grim ghosts for ever with thee dwell. Learn hence, ye tyrants, ere ye learn too late,
Of all your craft th' inevitable fate.
The hour is come, the world's unclosing eyes
Discern with rapture where its wisdom lies;
From western heav'ns th' inverted Orient springs,
The morn of man, the dreadful night of kings.
Dim, like the day-struck owl, ye grope in light,
No arm for combat, no resource in sight;
If on your guards your lingering hopes repose,
Your guards are men, and men you've made your foes;
If to your rocky ramparts ye repair,
De Launay's fate can tell your fortune there.
No turn, no shift, no courtly arts avail,
Each mask is broken, all illusions fail;
Driv'n to your last retreat of shame and fear,
One counsel waits you, one relief is near :
By worth internal, rise to self-wrought fame,
Your equal rank, your human kindred claim;
'Tis Reason's choice, 'tis Wisdom's final plan,
To drop the monarch and assume the man.
“The magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton book Eugene Aram
Eugene Aram (1832), Book i, Chapter vii.
“It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.”
Lionel Trilling (1905–1975) American academic
"The Novel Alive or Dead," A Gathering of Fugitives: New Essays (1956)
“That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge book Biographia Literaria
Source: Biographia Literaria (1817), Ch. XIV
