"Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism."

"Judgment is not my business. Existing is my business."

"My mother was a dominant force in my life. She had a very specific idea about education, which was: you should know everything about everything. It was quite simple. There was no exclusivity, and there really was no judgment."

"The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts."

"Dad worked his entire career as an aviation technician. Mom was a legal secretary who became a teacher. We lived a simple American life."

"Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."

"The Sunday School teacher talked too much in the way our grade school teacher used to when she told us about George Washington. Pleasant, pretty stories, but not true."

"I always wanted to go to the Chavez school but I could never afford it when I was growing up so a lot of my learning came from magic books and watching other magicians. I was also very lucky that I had a couple of really good magic teachers."