Penn Jillette Quotes
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Freedom means the freedom to be stupid, and that's what I want.
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Bob Barr is not crazy enough for my taste.
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I have a very specific definition of censorship. Censorship must be done by the government or it's not censorship.
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Modern American magic, late 20th century magic, is tremendously disrespectful of the audience.
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When 9/11 hit, the second thing I said to myself was, 'This really is what religious people do.' Those people flying the plane were very good, very pious, truly faithful believers. There's no other way to paint them. Of course, they are extremists by definition, but they certainly aren't going against Islam in any real way.
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The one kind of person I have a lot of trouble understanding is the kind of person that says the existence of God or religion doesn't matter, it's not an important decision. I think it's vitally important; it's what all our lives are based on.
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The purpose of art is to collide the intellectual and visceral together at the highest speed possible.
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A joke is a way to say, 'I'm going to do something funny now. If I don't get a laugh at the end, I'm a failure.'
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My love of computers, besides being practical, is very direct and visceral. I love the way things look on the screen.
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You don't have to be brave or a saint, a martyr, or even very smart to be an atheist. All you have to be able to say is 'I don't know.'
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For better or worse, in the 21st century, reality shows are the variety show.
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Direct confrontation, direct conversation is real respect. And it's amazing how many people get that.
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I will not counter the insanity of the PATRIOT Act with an overblown fear of my rights being taken away.
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I intend to do the Penn & Teller show until they pry my cheesy magic wand from my cold dead fingers.
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The first thing I said to myself on 9/11 was, 'There go our civil rights.' I found out by comparing notes later that George Carlin and I both said that at the exact same time. That's the first thing that popped into our head.
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My body really, really wanted to reproduce when I was 15. It took a lot of civilization, socialization, willpower and some emulsion polymerization technology for me not to reproduce at 15.
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When someone is trying to interpret something for you, they always have an agenda.
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I do believe that a belief in God is crazy, but that doesn't mean that the people who believe in it are crazy. Those are two different things. Ideas can be stupid and crazy, and the people who hold those ideas are not necessarily stupid and crazy.
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I'm very happy being big and effeminate.
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Showbiz is just there to give people something to talk about.
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If you just want to help people out you end up being a good person. I mean there’s every single kind of horrible self-help book will tell you if you’re feeling down and you’re feeling depressed just go help someone out and it’s a cliché, you wouldn’t even say it it’s so embarrassing, except it happens to be true.
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To drive a car in rural America is freedom. Before I had a car, I'd never seen a rock and roll show, I'd never seen a comic or a show.
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You should think about the world and feel about your heart.
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In reality, many people let go of religion later in life.