David Blaine quotes:

My mother was a teacher, and when she wanted to show me art and literature and science, she'd take me to museums, parks and free exhibitions.

Whether you're shuffling a deck of cards or holding your breath, magic is pretty simple: It comes down to training, practice, and experimentation, followed up by ridiculous pursuit and relentless perseverance.

I remember finding a Houdini book at the library and seeing an image of him chained on the side of a building. He looked so intense and scary, and I couldn't get that image out of my head. That started building up my love of magic.

I believe that fear of life brings a greater fear of death.

It was just like a digital fixation with cards and math and science and then I started to look at images of great magicians from Houdini down the line.

I remember my mother had this deck of cards that her mother had given her and that she passed on to me. It was a gypsy tarot deck that I used to carry everywhere.

Basically, I was a kid growing up with a single mother in Brooklyn.

I'd go to Coney Island to hang out, and I saw a magician doing a rope trick on the boardwalk. I was fascinated. I guess that's how it started.

I think magic, whether I'm holding my breath or shuffling a deck of cards, is pretty simple. It's practice, it's training, and it's - It's practice, it's training and experimenting, while pushing through the pain to be the best that I can be.

I think everything I do is normal, not paranormal but normal. It's using the power of the mind to achieve whatever we can endure.

My mother encouraged it so much. She was so supportive. Even if as a kid, I would do the dumbest trick, which now that I look back on some things, she would love it, she would say that's amazing, or if I'd make the ugliest drawing, she would hang it up. She was amazing.

To most magicians, cards themselves are marvels...For one thing, they feel special in your hand. Touching them, holding them, shuffling - the whole process is almost poetic. If you're in a room full of magicians and someone just mentions the word cards, within seconds, everyone is digging into their pockets and pulling out a deck of cards. It's one of the most amazing feelings ever.

My only fear is the unknown.

I remember finding a Houdini book at the library and seeing an image of him chained on the side of a building. He looked so intense and scary, and I couldnt get that image out of my head. That started building up my love of magic.

Magic's an art where you use slight of hand or illusion to create wonder. And I was just intrigued with that idea.

As a kid, I always was obsessed with Houdini.

In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our own minds.

As a kid I used to hold my breath longer than anybody else, and then I heard stories about people accidently underwater for 45 minutes - how do you recover from that? It's not a miracle. Something allows us to survive.

Well, I also love magic, which is, you know, different than showmanship. Magic's an art where you use slight of hand or illusion to create wonder.

Michael Jackson did something that no one else in history has managed - he connected with people on every level imaginable, all over the world. He seemed to speak to people at their very core and achieved the impossible. He reached people on a deep emotional level. And that is what any great artist or showman dreams of doing. That is why Michael Jackson was so special to me.

I don't think you can say something is or isn't magic. That's what was cool about Houdini, because he was a magician who had a magic show, but he was also an escape artist, and they kind of, over time, blended together. They both kind of enhance each other, I think.

I consider myself a showman, and I love magic, and I love art, and I love performance, and they're all separate.

I thought instead of burying myself under dirt, I'd bury myself under water so everybody could see that you're there.

As a Magician, I try to show things to people that seem impossible. And I think magic whether I'm holding my breath or shuffling a deck of cards is pretty simple: It's practice, it's training and it's experimenting while pushing through the pain to be the best that I can be. And that's what magic is to me.

Magic is not about having a puzzle to solve. It's about creating a moment of awe and astonishment. And that can be a beautiful thing

I hope people remember me as a guy who brought magic to the people. You know, pushed the boundaries of wonder.

We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe.

We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe. We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure much more than we think we can.

But as they say about sharks, it's not the ones you see that you have to worry about, it's the ones you don't see.

I think great whites are the most beautiful and perfect creatures I've ever seen.

I think that when Evel Knievel crashed over the fountain at Caesar's, it kind of gave you a credibility and then anticipation for everything he did.

I was obsessed with the idea of fasting and isolation.

I'd like to bring magic back to the place it used to be 100 years ago.

I think that, when you die, you go back to where you came from before you were born. So I don't think death is a bad thing.

I have not had time to reflect on my own truths in many years.

You don't get into magic...Magic gets into you.

As children we believe that anything is possible, the trick is to never forget it.

As a magician, I think everything is possible. And I think if something is done by one person it can be done by others.

Besides prostitution, magic is one of the oldest art forms that exist.

I just believe that the feeling of wonder is amazing. I am pushing myself as far as I can humanly push myself... I can only hope for the best and expect the worse.

I think everything I do is normal, not paranormal but normal. Its using the power of the mind to achieve whatever we can endure.

I think that when Evel Knievel crashed over the fountain at Caesars, it kind of gave you a credibility and then anticipation for everything he did.

I'd always wanted to do these types of things - pieces of magic I could put out not as illusions, but really doing it.

I do a lot of research on what people have done in the past.