Houdini, the magician who debunked magic, could not bear to see the great rationalist [Arthur Conan] Doyle enchanted by ghosts and frauds. And so he did what any friend would: He set out to prove spiritualism false and rob his friend Doyle of the only comforting fiction that was keeping him sane. It was the least he could do. John Hodgman
About This Quote

The great magician Harry Houdini, who has gone down in history as one of the greatest debunkers of the occult, refused to accept the reality of spiritualism. That is why he did not believe that spiritualism could offer any kind of comfort to his friend Arthur Conan Doyle, who had become a spiritualist believer after losing his beloved wife. Even though Houdini knew that spiritualism was nothing more than a fraudulent scam, he did not wish to destroy the only thing keeping Doyle from sinking into madness.

Source: That Is All

Some Similar Quotes
  1. A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you. - Elbert Hubbard
  2. When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable. - Jess C. Scott
  3. I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the... - Jon Katz
  4. How many slams in an old screen door? Depends how loud you shut it. How many slices in a bread? Depends how thin you cut it. How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live 'em. How much love inside a friend? Depends... - Shel Silverstein
  5. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends. - Friedrich Nietzsche
More Quotes By John Hodgman
  1. We have all been empowered by the web: everyone with a keyboard can now effectively broadcast to a national audience. In a sense, it puts each of us on the same footing as the major media conglomerates, except for AOL, who now apparently own all...
  2. It’s been a tough couple of years for condescending nerds. And if bookstores fall, Jon, America will be inundated with a wandering, snarky underclass of unemployable purveyors of useless and arcane esoterica.
  3. Houdini, the magician who debunked magic, could not bear to see the great rationalist [Arthur Conan] Doyle enchanted by ghosts and frauds. And so he did what any friend would: He set out to prove spiritualism false and rob his friend Doyle of the only...
  4. If you have not seen it, FOOTBALL is a game in which men shove one another back and forth for no reason. They do not choose how, when, or whom they shove. All that has been decided for them in advance. All they need to...
  5. This is one of the defining sorrows of books: that we cannot see one another.
Related Topics