Penn Jillette Quotes
I'm not bothered by the idea of getting old, or I guess you could say by having arrived at old. I was 10 when my mom turned 55. For 1955, she was a very old mom.
The skills that we have are the actual magic skills - not the performing skills. We have to separate those. But the actual skills that make the tricks work, we don't get to use again.
The only place we were really told to tone it down - where other people would use the word censorship, but I wouldn't - was when we did MTV right after the Beavis and Butt-head thing.
Teller and I worked Renaissance Festivals and street performing - actually more real, no kidding around, Philadelphia street performing than we did Renaissance Festivals.
Before you can read, you know the difference between a story and reality. And, of course, by the time you're old enough to do any real damage with an Uzi, you've learned that difference.
Love and respect all people. Hate and destroy all faith.
Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.
I have no evidence that libertarianism leads to a better life. I just think it is morally right.
Every day, TV, newspapers, and the Internet bombard us with a message that we're destroying the earth. Ice caps are melting, rivers are dying, polar bears are drowning, and trees are doing something.
If you've gotten yourself into a situation when Clay Aiken is going to talk about his feelings with you, it's time to kill yourself.
The purpose of art is to collide the intellectual and visceral together at the highest speed possible.
Barack Obama is way smarter than Bush - so way, way smarter than me. Obama is way more charismatic than me.
My parents were teetotalers and my grandparents were - it's all the way back. It's New English puritanical tradition.
People like Bill Maher, who brags about being a cynic, it sickens me. I am the least cynical person I know, and I am very, very skeptical.
If I were trying to avoid embarrassment, I wouldn't have stumbled my way through 'Dancing with the Stars.'
We aren't people who believe that just because we're performers our opinions on everything need to be known.
We knew that we were kind of odd and creeps, and we wanted to do odd, creepy stuff for people who wanted to see that.
I'm a big fan of huge populations of people, so you'd think with 300 million people in the country, you don't even have to please 1% to be phenomenally successful.
I intend to do the Penn & Teller show until they pry my cheesy magic wand from my cold dead fingers.
I never wanted to be a magician. I never wanted to be a comedian. I never wanted to be onstage.
I've never revved my car at a light for an attractive woman or an auto-rival, not even as a joke.
I believe in individual rights so much that I don't like any sort of 'what's good for the cause'-type questions.
Exploration of space is worth it because humans need to explore. Knowledge is always good, and it's a really cool thing to see.
Direct confrontation, direct conversation is real respect. And it's amazing how many people get that.
For the most part, any serious magic show is not using very much technology newer than theatrical lights.
America was founded on Christians not trusting each other, and they sometimes seemed more willing to reach out to the godless than to someone from another sect.
The vast majority of the world knows there's no reason to circumcise. Someone should tell the doctors.
Part of the experience of being entertained is sitting back and plugging into someone else's vision.
The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.
A joke is a way to say, 'I'm going to do something funny now. If I don't get a laugh at the end, I'm a failure.'
My whole family is missing that sports gene. I hope I didn't screw that up by marrying a great golfer.
My love of computers, besides being practical, is very direct and visceral. I love the way things look on the screen.
