Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health Quotes in The Magician (1958)

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: I'll tell you a secret. I've struggled all evening with an inexplicable sympathy for you and your husband.

Manda Vogler: That doesn't sound likely.

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: I took an immediate liking to you. Your faces, your silence, your natural dignity. I only admit the deplorable fact because I'm tipsy.

Manda Vogler: Then leave us alone.

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: I can't.

Manda Vogler: Why not?

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: Because you represent what I despise most of all. The inexplicable.

Manda Vogler: It's meaningless.

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: So I can put my mind at ease?

Manda Vogler: Yes, put your mind at ease. We can demonstrate our incompetence as often as you like.

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: You seem to regret the fact and wish it were otherwise. But there are no miracles. It's always the props and the patter that must do the work. The clergy's in the same sad boat. God is silent while men babble on.

Manda Vogler: If just once...

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: That's what they all say, "If just once..." For the nonbelievers, but especially for the believers. "If just once..."

Manda Vogler: If just once... It's true.

Police Superintendant Starbeck: Dr. Vogler, in our town's chronicles you advertised a performance promising all manner of thrills: "Sensational marvels never seen before. Magical acts derived from the philosophies of the Orient. Health-giving magnets, and spine-tingling thrills for the senses." Is that your announcement?

Tubal: [cutting in before Vogler can respond] Sir, these ostentatious formulations, offensive to any educated mind, are not the work of Dr. Vogler's hand.

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: We'd be grateful if the doctor himself would answer the question.

Tubal: Mr. Vogler is deprived of the gift of speech. He is mute, gentlemen.

Dr. Vergerus, Minister of Health: Either this is a dream or I'm losing my mind. Since It's inconceivable that I've lost all reason, I'll just wait till I wake up.