David Copperfield

Never stop listening to your audience.

I'm really trying hard not to do anything that has been done before. So knowing everything I can about the legacy of magic challenges my team and I to invent new illusions.

My uncle's house burned down when I was 6 years old. We got out safely. But ever since, I've had a nightmare of dying in a fire.

I really did sneak into Broadway shows, starting when I was 12.

I am fortunate to have the resources to have many methods to do each of my illusions.

I was an only child. We were so poor, my parents and I had the same room.

The most important thing is presentation.

For me to grow, I have to know about the foundation that came before.

Magic is my paint.

I'm just waiting for people to start asking me to make the rain disappear.

Dreams are illusions, and we can't let go of them because we would be dead.

I need a form of escape even when I'm working really hard.

Magicians are the people who began to use film as an illusion on stage.

I find revealing the secrets of magic quite reprehensible.

My show is constantly evolving... new tricks are added, old ones are dropped... so it stays fresh. But it's the randomly selected participants from the audience that make it fresh and provide some of the best comic relief.

Demonic figures and occult themes have disappeared from modern magic.

It is the unspoken ethic of all magicians to not reveal the secrets.

You have to learn certain skills to present magic.

No self-respecting gay guy would have ever made some of the hair and clothing choices I am still trying to live down.

I act like I'm 14, if you haven't figured that out yet.

Magic really helped me.

There is a safe spot within every tornado. My job is to find it.

It's okay for me to be gay, but God didn't make me that way.

When youre a guy and meet a girl the first time you do whatever it takes.

Magic came very easy for me when I was a kid. When I was 8 years old I started doing it, and by the time I was 12, I was already published in magic books.

The real secret of magic lies in the performance.

If I was gay, why would I hide it?

Magicians lose the opportunity to experience a sense of wonder.

When you're a guy and meet a girl the first time, you do whatever it takes.

For my father, being kind was natural... I have to really work at it. I love competing and winning, conquest - not words you usually associate with kindness.

I have always been interested in pushing magic forward.