Penn Jillette Real Quotations

Teller and I worked Renaissance Festivals and street performing - actually more real, no kidding around, Philadelphia street performing than we did Renaissance Festivals.

In reality, many people let go of religion later in life.

For better or worse, in the 21st century, reality shows are the variety show.

Counterintuitive actions prove we can trust real knowledge and do the opposite of what we feel makes sense.

Direct confrontation, direct conversation is real respect. And it's amazing how many people get that.

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate.

My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into the private world of real creeps without having to smell them.

When 9/11 hit, the second thing I said to myself was, 'This really is what religious people do.' Those people flying the plane were very good, very pious, truly faithful believers. There's no other way to paint them. Of course, they are extremists by definition, but they certainly aren't going against Islam in any real way.

Before you can read, you know the difference between a story and reality. And, of course, by the time you're old enough to do any real damage with an Uzi, you've learned that difference.

It's not arrogant to say that you can't figure out the answers to the universe with your internal faith. It's not arrogant to know that there's no omniscient, omnipotent prime mover in the universe who loves you personally. It's not sad to feel that life and the love of your real friends and family is more than enough to make life worth living. Isn't it much sadder to feel that there is a more important love required than the love of the people who have chosen to spend their limited time with you?

One of the things that Teller and I are obsessed with, one of the reasons that we're in magic, is the difference between fantasy and reality.

TV networks are dying. The death throes of religion give us jihads. The death throes of television give us reality shows.

And we realized it was time to do a show underwater. Magic needs a good head-soaking.