Home > Work > The Custodian of Marvels (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, #3)
1 " To solve a mystery you must ask the right question. To keep a mystery you must have them ask the wrong one. "
― Rod Duncan , The Custodian of Marvels (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, #3)
2 " There are two powers in every secret: that others do not know it and that others may be told. "
3 " Applause is the reward of the bullet-catcher. But the con artist will be far away by the time his trick is seen. "
4 " If the catcher of the bullet chooses the moment, it is called conjuring. If the shooter chooses the moment, it is called murder. Never let them rush you ahead of your plan. "
5 " Magic has ever lived in the gap between what we believe should be and what our senses tell us. "
6 " The boy didn’t ask further. Simple acceptance of the marvellous was one of his many gifts. "
7 " Take off the disguise and another is revealed beneath. Regard well the many people you must be. There is no innermost layer. "
8 " As the mind expects, so will the eye perceive. This is the human condition. This is the conjurer’s friend. "
9 " There is no lie but what they discover. There is no truth but what you can make them believe. "
10 " Take off the disguise and another is revealed beneath. Regard well the many people you must be. When the last layer is gone, there can be no more life. "
11 " Declare a thing unknown and they will share in your wonderment. Declare it a secret and they will consider it a challenge. "
12 " To perform the impossible is elementary. It requires only that everything you are and everything you have learned be brought to focus in one moment, and at a place where no one else is looking. "
13 " There is truth to be found in the mouths of liars, and lies in the mouths of truthful men, though they set out only to deceive themselves. "
14 " To hide an elephant is easy. Simply put it where they are not looking. "
15 " All luck is illusion. Few illusions are luck. "
16 " They will beg to be told the secrets of your illusion. But you must know them better than they know themselves. The truth will disappoint. "
17 " The plan that no one else has thought of may be genius or delusion. Time alone will reveal which. "
18 " The illusion must be one story hidden and one story shown. Without the first, there will be no trick. Without the second, they will discover the first. For no mind will accept a thing unless it sees a reason. "
19 " Alone among craftsmen, the bullet catcher must hide his skill. For, once glimpsed, the illusion would be gone forever. "
20 " It is sweet and fitting to live for your art. But die for it and you will be remembered forever. "