He was the most influential magician of the 20th century. Among his favorite escapes were: slipping out of ropes, chains, and handcuffs while locked in trunks and milk cans or submerged underwater. He was a Hungarian-born American magician, stunt performer, actor, and film producer.
He was also a skeptic who set out to expose frauds purporting to be supernatural phenomena.
(1874 – 1926)
– Harry Houdini Quotes –
How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public.
~ Harry Houdini
I make the most money, I think, in Russia and Paris, for the people of those countries are so willing to be amused, so eager to see something new and out of the ordinary.
~ Harry Houdini
My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day commonplaces of my business.
~ Harry Houdini
The eating of burning brimstone is an entirely fake performance.
~ Harry Houdini
Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements.
~ Harry Houdini
I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do something greater, something more wonderful.
~ Harry Houdini
But it must not be thought that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me for years.
~ Harry Houdini
I am the only performer who ever pledged his assistants to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial oath.
~ Harry Houdini
My chief task has been to conquer fear. The public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-training that was necessary to conquer fear…no one except myself can appreciate how I have to work at this job every single day, never letting up for a moment.
~ Harry Houdini
Only one man ever betrayed my confidence, and that only in a minor matter.
~ Harry Houdini
I knew, as everyone knows, that the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place some one is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death.
~ Harry Houdini
My brain is the key that sets my mind free.
~ Harry Houdini
My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day commonplaces of my business.
~ Harry Houdini
I make the most money, I think, in Russia and Paris, for the people of those countries are so willing to be amused, so eager to see something new and out of the ordinary
~ Harry Houdini
I think my escape from the Siberian Transport was my most difficult performance. I was placed in the great vault usually assigned to political prisoners, and when the great door was shut, I had the hardest time of my life, perhaps, in releasing myself. But nevertheless, it took me 18 minutes to walk out, and face the dazed officials.
~ Harry Houdini
