“Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it.”

— John Steinbeck , book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Steinbeck 366

American writer 1902–1968

Edie Sedgwick (1943–1971) Socialite, actress, model

Edie : Girl On Fire (2006)
Context: But I really, since I exist, at all, I believe that it's possible for people... I've lived through impossible situations. So I believe in it. I just believe, and that's the magic... That's the whole thing, you talk about magic that there's to believe in, and it is there. But most people don't really believe in it. And I refuse, like, since I'm still alive and done the things I've done and seen things and understood things as far as I have, and I am alive, I mean physically intact. When I shouldn't be, according to medical reports and so forth. I mean I should be, not here. That's all there is to it. So the magic's working and it's a rare situation.

“I want to spend my time with people who don't look to be respected. But such good people won't want to spend their time with me.”

Osamu Dazai book The Setting Sun

Source: The Setting Sun

“I was been raised to believe I was an artist. I believed what my parents said and fulfilled it, like a prophecy.”

Ariel Pink (1978) American musician

Before Today you may have considered Ariel Pink quite kitsch http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/10/ariel-pink-chillwave-haunted-graffiti?ref=nf (July 10, 2010)

“I believe that the combination of pencil and memory creates a kind of practical magic, and magic is dangerous.”

Stephen King book The Green Mile

Source: The Green Mile

“I don't want what I am saying to sound like a prophecy or anything like an analysis of modern society …. these are only feelings I have, and I am the least speculative man on earth.”

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007) Italian film director and screenwriter

Encountering Directors interview (1969)

“I don't know that I believe in the supernatural, but I do believe in miracles, and our time together was filled with the events of magical unlikelihood.”

John Perry Barlow (1947–2018) American poet and essayist

The Death of Cynthia Horner (1994)
Context: I don't know that I believe in the supernatural, but I do believe in miracles, and our time together was filled with the events of magical unlikelihood. I also believe that angels, or something like them, sometimes live among us, hidden within our fellow human beings. I'm convinced that such an angel dwelled in Cynthia. I felt this presence often in Cynthia's lightness of being, in her decency, her tolerance, her incredible love. I never heard Cynthia speak ill of anyone nor did I ever hear anyone speak ill of her. She gave joy and solace to all who met her.