Never try to fool children, they expect nothing, and therefore see everything...
My chief task has been to conquer fear. The public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-training that was necessary to conquer fear.
No prison can hold me; no hand or leg irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom.
Another method of eating burning coals employs small balls of burned cotton in a dish of burning alcohol.
Some say I do it this way, others say I do it that way, but I say I do it the other way.
The pickpocket is usually very well dressed and of prepossessing appearance.
Magic is the sole science not accepted by scientists, because they can’t understand it.
Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements.
But it must not be thought that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me for years.
My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day commonplaces of my business.
An old trick well done is far better than a new trick with no effect.
I’m tired of fighting, Dash. I guess this thing is going to get me.
I make the most money, I think, in Russia and Paris, for the people of those countries are so willing to be amused, so eager to see something new and out of the ordinary.
Flames from the lips may be produced by holding in the mouth a sponge saturated with the purest gasoline.
I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do something greater, something more wonderful.
I do not believe that ghosts or spirits exist.
Rosabelle – answer – tell – pray, answer – look – tell – answer, answer – tell.
But then, so far as I know, I am the only performer who ever pledged his assistants to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial oath.
No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth.
Eating coals of fire has always been one of the sensational feats of the Fire Kings, as it is quite generally known that charcoal burns with an extremely intense heat.