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In the winters, I enrolled in the hotel management program at Cornell University. I naively thought that I knew something about sleight-of-hand, entertainment and food, and that would be all I needed.

Ricky Jay

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Ricky Jay
Age: 72 †
Born: 1946
Born: June 26
Died: 2018
Died: November 24
Magician
Non-Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Richard Jay Potash
Something
University
Sleight
Would
Program
Naively
Needed
Enrolled
Food
Winters
Knew
Hotel
Hand
Winter
Hands
Management
Thought
Entertainment
Cornell

More quotes by Ricky Jay

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It probably is harder to fool people when they know they're going to be fooled.
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I like being fooled. When I watch someone who does sleight-of-hand and fools me, it's a great feeling.
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Every acting gig isn't the same, every writing job isn't the same, every live performance isn't the same - the challenge is the level of difficulty or ease, and that may vary.
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If it sounds too good to be true, it always is.
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I'm pretty fortunate that I'm in the films I'm in largely because the directors have asked me to be in them. I'd love to do more of them, but the writing and historical stuff I'll probably always do.
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I grew up like Athena — covered with playing cards instead of armor — and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic.
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Theft annoys me more than anything else. The purloining of effects from another magician. Some people think it's massive to steal the secrets of nuclear reactors, but to steal a card move is trivial. They're wrong.
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My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.
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I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.
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Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder biscuits and the best shrimp cocktails that ever were.
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Magic is a powerful art that can support a weak performer.
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The pain is bad magicians ripping off good ones, doing magic badly, and making a mockery of the art.
Ricky Jay
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Maybe the the luxury of not having acting be my only profession is that I can be more selective about what I choose to be in. I've been really lucky in terms of film projects with people, terrific actors and also writers and directors that I really respect.
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I'm probably the only kid in history whose parents made him stop taking music lessons. They made me stop studying the accordion.
Ricky Jay
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I know absolutely nothing about the 20th Century.
Ricky Jay
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Writing is the only thing in my life that doesn't get easier. It just doesn't.
Ricky Jay
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I suppose that if I could only do one thing, a solid card effect would be pretty high on the list. That's the root of it all, sleight-of-hand. It's certainly the thing I feel most comfortable with.
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I wouldn't want to try to make a living as an actor. I think actors... I give them a lot of credit for what they go through, but putting myself on the line like that would make me crazy.
Ricky Jay
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I certainly was performing before my writing was published, because I was performing when I was very young. And the thing is I'm very comfortable on stage, so a large portion of my act did come from ad-libs.
Ricky Jay
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Sitting with a deck of cards in your hand all day is an obsession. Visiting print shops and bookstores and libraries is an obsession. And writing about this is an obsession. I think, in general, most collectors are obsessed. I think the only form of a rationalized greed is when you're collecting something you are supposedly serious about.
Ricky Jay