Jan Golembiewski > Quotes

“I welcome injustice, because injustice gives me something to strive for. We need the darkness, for it allows the light to shine. God’s greatest gift to mankind is Satan, because evil gives us something to strive against.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“Immigration detainees are the ghosts of real prisoners, being punished in advance for crimes that will demand a life sentence.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“Sometimes we’re persuaded to relinquish control, and when this happens, time becomes more synchronic and coincidence more profound. It’s the same cosmic force, but without so many restrictions. This is when guardian angels can roll up their sleeves to say, ‘Now we’ve got food and shelter done, let’s get to work!”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“The extraordinary thing about having absolute conviction that you’re doing the right thing is that you’ll do it – whatever that may be, no matter how difficult, dangerous or improbable.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“The Muslims around me were right; there was only one God, and the others... well there weren’t any others because there was only one.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“You’ve got a choice: ...you can just give in. You can give your jailers what they want. Switch off another light and in the ocean of darkness bow your head and cry. You can despair for your kids, and they can despair for you. But what does this choice give you? Have you any great new happiness now? What does your unhappiness give to your children? Why did you make this choice? Why did you walk into the trap of captivity?”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“In my mind, the only way to prepare for the unknown was through an internal, spiritual journey of discovery, not by calculating litres and kilometres... how can humans plan or even make reasonable assertions about the enormous possibilities life presents us?”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“Was fiction the source of life, I wondered. Was it fiction that spawned reality rather than reality seeding fiction? Perhaps and perhaps not. But there is something else, and fiction is close to it. It’s the desire that spawns the need for fiction. Could such simplicity be the engine of the universe?”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“Destiny is surely propelled by desires. Desires push and pull you to make big moves and landslide changes, but they don’t propel you to the people who will help shape those desires. The street directions of our life’s path are difficult to read. They aren’t intuitive... they’re the product of the minutiae of our daily lives: accidental meetings and chances that happen while you’re getting fed or finding shelter. And on the road, that means the influence of complete strangers.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“Learning magic isn’t really learning anything at all. It’s all about forgetting. Peeling off all (you) think you know... until the magical truth is revealed.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“Children love both magic and science for the same reason both are enablers. Both offer power and solutions to impossible problems. But then something shifts when people discover the instability magic brings to existence. It shatters the world that’s been built on predictability and logic. Suddenly the material, the countable, the definable is pulled from underfoot by the capricious, slippery and ego-centric nature of the mind. In that respect it’s the opposite of science, which remains dispassionate and impartial to the observer, predictable no matter what. The laws of motion won’t change because the scientist gets a speeding fine.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic

“...Designers are generally unaware of the effects that their inventions have on the brain, and therefore take no responsibility of this role is deeply worrying. The world of design is like a highway, where each and every driver is asleep at the wheel.”
― Jan Golembiewski

“The demons of circumstance are far more wily than the monsters of fear.”
― Jan Golembiewski, Magic