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The cliche of the nerdy kid who doesn't go outside and just plays games is completely untrue. And it's also true for the nerdy kid who studies comic books and turns into this genius, and it is also true for the nerdy kid who listens to every nerdy thing that Led Zeppelin put out. That kind of obsession in a 16-year-old is not ugly. It's beautiful.

Penn Jillette

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Penn Jillette
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: March 5
Actor
Circus Performer
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Magician
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More quotes by Penn Jillette

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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
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Bob Saget is the dirtiest comic who's ever lived. Nobody touches him.
Penn Jillette
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Trey Parker did 'Book of Mormon.' It's the best Broadway show I've ever seen. He does 'South Park.' It's wonderful.
Penn Jillette
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If I go out to dinner with you and you order wine, I leave. I won't be around drugs and alcohol at all.
Penn Jillette
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Behaving morally because of a hope of reward or a fear of punishment is not morality. Morality is not bribery or threats. Religion is bribery and threats. Humans have morality. We don't need religion.
Penn Jillette
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I came to magic absolutely hating magic on a very, very deep level.
Penn Jillette
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In music, if you hit a wrong note, people forgive you. In magic when something goes wrong, the entire art is destroyed.
Penn Jillette
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If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.
Penn Jillette
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If you want to turn out an atheist child, unconditional love constantly is a good way to do it.
Penn Jillette
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Direct confrontation, direct conversation is real respect. And it's amazing how many people get that.
Penn Jillette
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Whereas you have someone like Houdini, who works really, really hard to get really, really famous, and then has actual intellectual ideas that he puts into the culture that stay there.
Penn Jillette
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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
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The secret truth of 'Celebrity Apprentice' is that it isn't very hard... 'Celebrity Apprentice' is easy like junior high is easy. All the arithmetic, the creative writing and the history are super simple, but like junior high, you do that easy work surrounded by people who are full-tilt, hormone-raging bug nutty.
Penn Jillette
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The definition of a stupid thing is something that if you do everything right, you still get hurt. Fire-eating and love are stupid things.
Penn Jillette
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A lot of people, to attack an outspoken atheist, one of the things they'll do is say, 'You are as bad as the fundamentalist Christians.' And my answer is always, 'I hope so.'
Penn Jillette
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My whole family is missing that sports gene. I hope I didn't screw that up by marrying a great golfer.
Penn Jillette
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I like to read in the dark. I like to go into the bathtub, turn out all the lights, and in the dark, read my books.
Penn Jillette
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Having a Hummer is stupid. It's stupid to waste that much gas. It's stupid to waste that much money on gas. It's stupid to parade your insecurities on public roads. Hummers are stupid-looking.
Penn Jillette
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You have to be careful as a libertarian because you can sound very Republican.
Penn Jillette
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I'm really happy with all the art that was inspired by religion, and I think I'd be tickled to little tiny pieces if art in the future was inspired by other things.
Penn Jillette