David Copperfield
Marriage is like a formality for me.Collection: Marriage
Dreams are illusions, and we can't let go of them because we would be dead.Collection: Dreams
I try to help people realize their dreams by using magic to tell stories that educate, move, and inspire.Collection: Dreams
There is a safe spot within every tornado. My job is to find it.
What I've tried to do in my stage magic is to take a trick and give it an emotional hook.
The real secret of magic lies in the performance.
For me to grow, I have to know about the foundation that came before.
If I was gay, why would I hide it?
I find revealing the secrets of magic quite reprehensible.
I need a form of escape even when I'm working really hard.
I really did sneak into Broadway shows, starting when I was 12.
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 was an only child. We were so poor, my parents and I had the same room.
No self-respecting gay guy would have ever made some of the hair and clothing choices I am still trying to live down.
When you're a guy and meet a girl the first time, you do whatever it takes.
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.
Magicians lose the opportunity to experience a sense of wonder.
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.
It's really hard to think of one kind of magic as a favorite. I've been really fortunate in that I've been able to perform such a diverse range of things.
You can feel better about yourself in a very short period of time depending on the kind of magic that you are doing.
Magic has been something I've been really good at since I was really young. The ability has always come easy to me, I'm not sure why.
It's okay for me to be gay, but God didn't make me that way.
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.
Magic really helped me.
I have always been interested in pushing magic forward.
Magic is my paint.
Physical rehab is often very, very hard work.
I'm just waiting for people to start asking me to make the rain disappear.
The audience likes to be taken on new journeys.
But Vegas is really my first home.
You have to learn certain skills to present magic.
No, I think marriage is a great thing.
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.
Never stop listening to your audience.
I discovered something amazing, which has caused a lot of controversy - the fountain of youth. I have to keep it a secret!
I act like I'm 14, if you haven't figured that out yet.
Demonic figures and occult themes have disappeared from modern magic.
I am fortunate to have the resources to have many methods to do each of my illusions.
In magic, it takes two or three years for me to create a 5-minute illusion for me to get it to the level I want.
The key is for the audience never to know, so I have a plan B for every illusion.
It is the unspoken ethic of all magicians to not reveal the secrets.
But when I go off stage I don't have a deck of cards with me all the time.
We all possess the need to dream.
I discovered Musha Cay and the islands around it in the Exumas.
The audiences are what keep me enthusiastic.
I used to fly around the stage without strings or camera tricks. That took seven years to create.
The first trick I bought at Macy's was a little wooden board where a quarter would appear and disappear.
I brush my teeth with a Sonicare toothbrush before every show.
Magic and new technology have always walked hand in hand - even back in the days of Robert Houdin.
When people say you can't do it - that it's impossible - never lose hope. Just because they couldn't doesn't mean you can't.Collection: Mean