“The very best illusions of the best magicians of a few years ago are now the common property of traveling showmen at country fairs.”

As quoted in Cosmopolitan (December 1892).
Context: A so-called magician, more than a poet, must be born with a peculiar aptitude for the calling. He must first of all possess a mind of contrarieties, quick to grasp the possibilities of seemingly producing the most opposite effects from the most natural causes. He must be original and quick-witted, never to be taken unawares. He must possess, in no small degree, a knowledge of the exact sciences, and he must spend a lifetime in practice, for in the profession its emoluments come very slowly. All this is discouraging enough, but this is not all. The magician must expect the exposure of his tricks sooner or later, and see what it has required long months of study and time to perfect dissolved in an hour. The very best illusions of the best magicians of a few years ago are now the common property of traveling showmen at country fairs. I might instance the mirror illusions of Houdin; the cabinet trick of the Davenport Brothers, and the second sight of Heller — all the baffling puzzles of the days in which the respective magicians mentioned lived. All this is not a pleasant prospective picture for the aspirant for the honors of the magician.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The very best illusions of the best magicians of a few years ago are now the common property of traveling showmen at co…" by Alexander Herrmann?
Alexander Herrmann photo
Alexander Herrmann 9
French magician 1844–1896

Related quotes

Jay Samit photo

“The best time to launch your new company was a year ago; the second-best time is now.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Seneca the Younger photo

“The best ideas are common property.”
sciant quae optima sunt esse communia.

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XII: On old age, Line 11.

Dorothy Thompson photo

“It became the fashion a few years ago to say that civil liberties meant nothing to the average man; that his freedom was just freedom to starve. But it also happens that the ‘free’ countries are those which the underprivileged are best fed.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 29

George Bancroft photo

“The best government rests on the people and not on the few, on persons and not on property, on the free development of public opinion and not on authority.”

George Bancroft (1800–1891) American historian and statesman

"The Office of the People in Art, Government and Religion" (1835), p. 421
Literary and Historical Miscellanies (1855)

Jack Valenti photo
Michelle Obama photo

“Over the past few years as First Lady, I have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this country.”

Michelle Obama (1964) lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady of the United States

2010s, Democratic National Convention speech (2012)

A. C. Grayling photo

“On the best view, justice is fairness.”

A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher

Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 26, “Protest” (p. 107)

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo
Frida Kahlo photo
Forest Whitaker photo

“Life is full of choices, and many years ago, I chose to become a vegetarian, and it was one of the best choices I’ve ever made.”

Forest Whitaker (1961) American actor

“ Forest Whitaker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMEaTtPodAE,” ad for PETA (27 March 2008).

Related topics