“Many secrets of art and nature are thought by the unlearned to be magical.”

— Roger Bacon

Cited by Peter Nicholls (1979) The Encyclopedia of science fiction: an illustrated A to Z. p. 376

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Roger Bacon 21

medieval philosopher and theologian 1220–1292

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“The true nature of the gods is that of magical images shaped out of the astral plane by mankind's thought, and influenced by the mind.”

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“Wisdom is nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life.”

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“That charm of genius, triumph of high art;
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Translations, From the French

“Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality.”

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French artist

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Context: Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality. With more involvement and regularity, I learned to push each study in a certain direction. Little by little the notion that painting is a means of expression asserted itself, and that one can express the same thing in several ways. Exactitude is not truth, Delacroix liked to say.

“What magic shall solve us the secret
Of beauty that’s born for an hour?”

Madison Cawein (1865–1914) poet from Louisville, Kentucky

Interpreted.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)

“Many secrets of art and nature are thought by the unlearned to be magical.”

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Roger Bacon 21

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