1.
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.
Harry Houdini
2.
My Brain is the key that sets me free.
Harry Houdini
My Mind is the catalyst that liberates me.
3.
Never try to fool children, they expect nothing, and therefore see everything.
Harry Houdini
Do not attempt to deceive minors, they anticipate nothing and thus observe everything.
4.
What the eyes sees, the ear hears, and the mind believes.
Harry Houdini
'What is seen, heard, and accepted by the mind.'
5.
Never tell the auidience how good you are, they will soon find out for themselves.
Harry Houdini
Don't boast to the spectators; they will discern your merits soon enough.
6.
Magic is the sole science not accepted by scientists, because they can't understand it.
Harry Houdini
7.
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.
Harry Houdini
8.
Some say I do it this way, others say I do it that way, but I say I do it the other way.
Harry Houdini
9.
Keep up your enthusiasm! There is nothing more contagious than exuberant enthusiasm.
Harry Houdini
10.
The greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin.
Harry Houdini
11.
An old trick well done is far better than a new trick with no effect.
Harry Houdini
12.
I am not an irretrievable skeptic. I am not hopelessly prejudiced. I am perfectly willing to believe, and my mind is wide open; but I have, as yet, to be convinced. I am perfectly willing, but the evidence must be sane and conclusive.
Harry Houdini
13.
A magician is only an actor - an actor pretending to be a magician.
Harry Houdini
14.
The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks you do.
Harry Houdini
15.
I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do something greater, something more wonderful.
Harry Houdini
16.
Look at this life - all mystery and magic.
Harry Houdini
17.
Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements.
Harry Houdini
18.
Anyone who believes in magic is a fool.
Harry Houdini
19.
I knew, as everyone knows, that the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place some one is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death. That's what attracts us to the man who paints the flagstaff on the tall building, or to the 'human fly' who scales the walls of the same building.
Harry Houdini
20.
The Sun represents the right half of the body and the Moon the left half.
Harry Houdini
21.
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.
Harry Houdini
22.
Rosabelle - answer - tell - pray, answer - look - tell - answer, answer - tell.
Harry Houdini
23.
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.
Harry Houdini
24.
I must fling myself down and writhe; I must strive with every piece of force I possess; I bruise and batter myself against the floor, the walls; I strain and sob and exhaust myself, and begin again, and exhaust myself again; but do I feel pain? Never. How can I feel pain? There is no place for it.
Harry Houdini
25.
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.
Harry Houdini
26.
To cause the face to appear in a mass of flame make use of the following: mix together thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and quick lime. Distill this over a charcoal fire, and the liquid which results can be burned on the face without harm.
Harry Houdini
27.
Only one man ever betrayed my confidence, and that only in a minor matter.
Harry Houdini
28.
The great trouble with magicians is the fact that they believe when they have bought a certain trick or piece of apparatus, and know the method of procedure, that they are full-fledged mystifiers.
Harry Houdini
29.
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.
Harry Houdini
30.
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.
Harry Houdini
31.
I do not believe that ghosts or spirits exist.
Harry Houdini
32.
No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth.
Harry Houdini
33.
The pickpocket is usually very well dressed and of prepossessing appearance.
Harry Houdini
34.
Another method of eating burning coals employs small balls of burned cotton in a dish of burning alcohol.
Harry Houdini
35.
It is needless to say that women make the most patient as well as the most dangerous pickpockets.
Harry Houdini
36.
I'm tired of fighting, Dash. I guess this thing is going to get me.
Harry Houdini
37.
I'm tired of fighting...
Harry Houdini
38.
They do tricks even I can't figure out.
Harry Houdini
39.
Flames from the lips may be produced by holding in the mouth a sponge saturated with the purest gasoline.
Harry Houdini
40.
My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion.
Harry Houdini
41.
In all feats of fire-eating it should be noted that the head is thrown well back, so that the flame may pass out of the open mouth instead of up into the roof, as it would if the head were held naturally.
Harry Houdini
42.
The eating of burning brimstone is an entirely fake performance.
Harry Houdini
43.
The great day of the Fire-eater - or, should I say, the day of the great Fire-eater - has passed.
Harry Houdini
44.
Pickpockets either work alone or in pairs, or what is called a mob.
Harry Houdini
45.
It is still an open question, however, as to what extent exposure really injures a performer.
Harry Houdini
46.
I think that in a year I may retire. I cannot take my money with me when I die and I wish to enjoy it, with my family, while I live. I should prefer living in Germany to any other country, though I am an American, and am loyal to my country.
Harry Houdini
47.
Disloyalty in trusted servants is one of the most disheartening things that can happen to a public performer.
Harry Houdini
48.
How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public.
Harry Houdini