Do Not Imagine That Art Or Anything

To Train The Mind To Move With The Maximum Speed And Energy, With The Utmost Possible Accuracy In The Chosen Direction, And With The Minimum Of Disturbance Or Friction. That Is Magick. To Stop The Mind Altogether. That Is Yoga.

I Must Make Magick The Essential Factor In The Life Of All. In Presenting This Book To The World, I Must Then Explain And Justify My Position By Formulating A Definition Of Magick And Setting Forth Its Main Principles In Such A Way That All May Understand Instantly That Their Souls, Their Lives, In Every Relation With Every Other Human Being And Every Circumstance, Depend Upon Magick And The Right Comprehension And Right Application Thereof.

To Knot A Sentence Up Properly, It Has To Be Thought Out Carefully, And Revised. New Phrases Have To Be Put In; Sudden Changes Of Subject Must Be Introducted; Verbs Must Be Shifted To Unsuspected Localities; Short Words Must Be Excised With Ruthless Hand; Archaisms Must Be Sprinkled Like Sugar-plums Upon The Concoction; The Fatal Human Tendency To Say Things Straightforwardly Must Be Detected And Defeated By Adroit Reversals; And, If A Glimmer Of Meaning Yet Remain Under Close Scrutiny, It Must Be Removed By Replacing All The Principal Verbs By Paraphrases In Some Dead Language.

All Questions Of The Law Are To Be Decided Only By Appeal To My Writings, Each For Himself

Light, Life And Love Are Like Three Glow-worms At Thy Feet: The Whole Universe Of Stars, The Dewdrops On The Grass Whereon Thou Walkest!