Quote

I never wanted to be a magician. I never wanted to be a comedian. I never wanted to be onstage.

Penn Jillette

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Penn Jillette
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: March 5
Actor
Circus Performer
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Director
Illusionist
Jongleur
Magician
Musician
Novelist
Podcaster
Radio Personality
Greenfield
Massachusetts
Penn Fraser Jillette
Magician
Onstage
Comedian
Wanted
Never

More quotes by Penn Jillette

Image
Comedy is taken care of by a free market.
Penn Jillette
Image
One of the strongest feelings you can get in life--one of the most rewarding feelings--is the feeling of an Aha, I finally understand.
Penn Jillette
Image
I've never revved my car at a light for an attractive woman or an auto-rival, not even as a joke.
Penn Jillette
Image
Make deals with people, not paper.
Penn Jillette
Image
You have two choices with Obama. You either believe that he is a man of Christ... or you think he's a liar. And I'm surprised by the number of atheist free thinkers that support Obama, and their argument is essentially, 'He's lying about being religious 'cause you have to do that to get elected.' It's a horrible reason to like somebody.
Penn Jillette
Image
You get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right.
Penn Jillette
Image
The vast majority of people who have guns never hurt anybody.
Penn Jillette
Image
Everyone's goals are the same with very small differences. I mean, the goal of a socialist and the goal of a libertarian are exactly the same. The goals are happiness and security and freedom, and you balance those.
Penn Jillette
Image
Love and respect all people. Hate and destroy all faith.
Penn Jillette
Image
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.'
Penn Jillette
Image
In reality, many people let go of religion later in life.
Penn Jillette
Image
When I was a kid, politicians wanted to avoid talking about religion if they could. John F. Kennedy couldn't duck the issue, being Catholic and all. So how did he address it? By reminding Americans that religion shouldn't be an issue, that he was concentrating on big things like poverty and hunger and leading the space race.
Penn Jillette
Image
This I believe: I believe there is no God.
Penn Jillette
Image
One thing you learn doing magic tricks for a living is how close every performance of every magic trick is to disaster. There are no robust magic tricks. They're all hanging from a thread - sometimes literally.
Penn Jillette
Image
Poker has the feeling of a sport, but you don't have to do push-ups.
Penn Jillette
Image
So many people say, ‘You know, your taxes aren’t taken by force,’ and that’s foolish. If you don’t pay your taxes and you don’t answer the warrant and you don’t go to court, eventually someone will pull a gun. Eventually someone with a gun will show up.
Penn Jillette
Image
I'm a hardcore libertarian - I want everything legal - but I also believe that you have the right to free association.
Penn Jillette
Image
Cheerios bring back memories. I actually don't think I ate them much as a kid, though maybe it's some sort of Jungian memory, I don't know. But they have so much sugar, it's great.
Penn Jillette
Image
Even if I disagree with Obama on many, many things, he is certainly qualified to be president. He is certainly competent to be president.
Penn Jillette
Image
'Christian' used to be a throwaway word. People didn't used to use it much. People didn't start self-labeling or getting labeled Christian until the last part of the 20th century. Before that, you might identify as a Baptist, or a Southern Baptist or a Methodist. But there wasn't one identifier that put you in a fold with all the other believers.
Penn Jillette