Quotes from Penn Jillette

If there's something you really want to believe, that's what you should question the most.

It's fair to say that the Bible contains equal amounts of fact, history, and pizza.

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

I'm a big fan of gospel music, and you cannot be a fan of rock and roll, you cannot be a fan of country western music, and you can't really be a fan of jazz without listening to a lot of music that's religious.

We know what racist people look like. They don't deny it. They just don't!

Bob Barr is not crazy enough for my taste.

Astrology is a cousin of racism.

One of the strongest feelings you can get in life--one of the most rewarding feelings--is the feeling of an "Aha, I finally understand."

If you believe that there's a heaven and hell . . . how much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

Whereas you have someone like Houdini, who works really, really hard to get really, really famous, and then has actual intellectual ideas that he puts into the culture that stay there.

Religion is often just tribalism: pride in a group one was born into, a group that is often believed to have 'God' on its side.

Bob Saget is the dirtiest comic who's ever lived. Nobody touches him.

Charities are really good. To a certain extent, the ones you pick are arbitrary.

Penn & Teller stopped doing practical jokes, and the reason is we got much too good at it.

Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.

Poker has the feeling of a sport, but you don't have to do push-ups.

How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?

I think that I am willing to risk my life in order to have more freedom.

Building a professional relationship on respect as opposed to affection is a very good idea. Running your art projects the way you'd run a dry-cleaning business is also a really good idea. You shouldn't go into work like you're going on a date, like you're hanging out with friends.

I didn't learn fire-eating to conquer my fears. I learned fire-eating because I desperately wanted to be in show business.

Counterintuitive action makes a fellow feel smart.

I'm always fascinated by the use of the first-person plural talking about sports.

It's only the losers named 'Dave' that think having an unusual name is bad, and who cares what they think? They're named 'Dave.'

I have no evidence that libertarianism leads to a better life. I just think it is morally right.