Quotes from Penn Jillette

My parents were teetotalers and my grandparents were - it's all the way back. It's New English puritanical tradition.

If you spend a lot of time lying to people, you think a lot about what the truth means.

If there are two things Penn & Teller stand for, it's the truth & lying, although not necessarily in that order.

People like Bill Maher, who brags about being a cynic, it sickens me. I am the least cynical person I know, and I am very, very skeptical.

I was always a little embarrassed when there was an act on television that requires a great deal of skill but is a little goofy, and the host comes over and acts like the person doing this skill is some sort of fool for having learned to do something that's very, very difficult.

There are performers who have built their whole career doing magic on TV and can't really perform live at all - don't really have jobs and skills.

I love the idea that horror and fear is a celebration of health and life.

I love nuts. I'm for nuts. I am nuts.

The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.

My love of computers, besides being practical, is very direct and visceral. I love the way things look on the screen.

I've never revved my car at a light for an attractive woman or an auto-rival, not even as a joke.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Every day, TV, newspapers, and the Internet bombard us with a message that we're destroying the earth. Ice caps are melting, rivers are dying, polar bears are drowning, and trees are doing something.

There is this tremendous amount of arrogance and hubris, where somebody can look at something for five minutes and dismiss it. Whether you talk about gaming or 20th century classical music, you can't do it in five minutes. You can't listen to 'The Rite of Spring' once and understand what Stravinsky was all about.

Modern American magic, late 20th century magic, is tremendously disrespectful of the audience.

Barack Obama is way smarter than Bush - so way, way smarter than me. Obama is way more charismatic than me.

Every poker player is smarter than me.

We all have friends we love dearly that couldn't pass for human in a strict Turing test.

If you want to turn out an atheist child, unconditional love constantly is a good way to do it.

I love when violent, dangerous art is done by people who are not violent and dangerous. I love that when George Romero was making 'Dawn of the Dead,' he was coaching his son's little league team.

'Psycho' is fascinating philosophically, because the point of 'Psycho' is that everything that's bad happens because of love.

I love the feeling of shredded wheat. I love healthy bird food with a fun-to-eat feel. Then you spray them with sugar, and I'm there.

As much as I disagreed with every second of 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' the fact that it is out made me jump for joy.

It's amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral, self-righteous, bullying laziness.