Cutter: Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if...
[last lines] Cutter: Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.
[first lines] Alfred Borden: Are you watching closely?
Alfred Borden: The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything.
Officer: Do you have anything to say? Alfred Borden: Abracadabra.
Alfred Borden: You went half way around the world, you spent a fortune, you did terrible things - really terrible things, Robert, and all for nothing. Robert Angier: For nothing? Alfred Borden: Yeah Robert Angier: You never understood why we did this...
[In reference to a bird from a trick] Alfred Borden: See? He's fine! Boy: But where's his brother?
Cutter: Take a minute to consider your achievement. I once told you about a sailor who drowned. Robert Angier: Yes, he said it was like going home. Cutter: I lied. He said it was agony.
Nikola Tesla: You're familiar with the phrase "man's reach exceeds his grasp"? It's a lie: man's grasp exceeds his nerve.
Alfred Borden: So... we go alone now. Both of us. Only I don't have as far to go as you. Go. You were right, I should have left him to his damn trick. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for a lot of things. I'm sorry about Sarah. I didn't mean to hurt her... I did...
Sarah: Alfred, I can't live like this! Alfred Borden: Well, what do you want from me? Sarah: I want... I want you to be honest with me. No tricks, no lies, no secrets. [pause] Sarah: Do you... do you love me? Alfred Borden: Not today. No.
[after showing a little boy how to do a coin trick] Alfred Borden: Never show anyone. They'll beg you and they'll flatter you for the secret, but as soon as you give it up... you'll be nothing to them.
Alfred Borden: Everything's going to be alright, because I love you very much. Sarah: Say it again. Alfred Borden: I love you. Sarah: Not today. Alfred Borden: What do you mean? Sarah: Well some days it's not true. Maybe today you're more in love wit...
Alfred Borden: I love you. Sarah: You mean it today. Alfred Borden: Of course. Sarah: It just makes it so much harder when you don't.
[repeated line] Alfred Borden: Are you watching closely?
Nikola Tesla: Mr. Angier, have you considered the cost of such a machine? Robert Angier: Price is not an object. Nikola Tesla: Perhaps not, but have you considered the *cost*? Robert Angier: I'm not sure I follow. Nikola Tesla: Go home. Forget this t...
Robert Angier: No one cares about the man in the box, the man who disappears.
[last lines] Cutter: Every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts. The first part is called the pledge, the magician shows you something ordinary. The second act is called the turn, the magician takes the ordinary something and makes it into so...
