Living Actor Quotes by Ricky Jay

Writing is the only thing in my life that doesn't get easier. It just doesn't.

— Ricky Jay

Magicians from the nineteenth century threw cards distances, but I think I'm the first one who made a thing about using them as weapons.

— Ricky Jay

That's one of the ways language evolved, by some very obscure form becoming common usage. And I must say that I'm very intrigued by…

— Ricky Jay

I started doing radio pieces with no clear, preconceived idea, except that I have a tendency to be theatrical.

— Ricky Jay

I'm probably the only kid in history whose parents made him stop taking music lessons. They made me stop studying the accordion.

— Ricky Jay

I suppose that if I could only do one thing, a solid card effect would be pretty high on the list. That's the root…

— Ricky Jay

To obfuscate the reconstruction of the effect - when a magician is fooled by another magician doing magic. In my career that's not been…

— Ricky Jay

I know absolutely nothing about the 20th Century.

— Ricky Jay

Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder…

— Ricky Jay

There are people who try to figure things out. Often, magic is presented in a way that sets up a challenge that I actually…

— Ricky Jay

Magic is a powerful art that can support a weak performer.

— Ricky Jay

My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.

— Ricky Jay

I'm much more interested in lesser-known eccentrics and characters and performers. Like Matthew Buchinger, who was born in Germany in 1674, had no arms…

— Ricky Jay

I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.

— Ricky Jay

I always read what I write out loud, and I did that long before any radio thing. My editor finds that unusual.

— Ricky Jay