139 Quotes by Derren Brown

People are just passively accepting what you tell them, so if you are on TV there is that greater responsibility to be true.

We go through life owned by the stories we tell ourselves which are often historic and charged narratives - things we've learnt since childhood that we don't even consciously realise are going on.

Magic's quite a solitary pursuit - a thing you can do for hours and hours, getting better and better.

I had no sense of 'Gotta work hard to be famous.' Never have done, and still don't.

What I do is rooted in magic - it's got a big foot planted firmly in conjuring, even if the other foot's planted in psychological techniques.

A magic trick of any sort works because you tell yourself a story about what you see. And politicians use this all the time in their own way by throwing a load of statistics at you when things don't quite follow and then saying, 'So therefore blah,' and you believe that 'blah' thing because of the confusion that's come before.

It's a controlling thing on stage - you're directing the action, getting people to play their role. In real life, I take being kind and nice seriously, so the last thing I'd ever want to be is that weird, controlling, manipulative character.

I'm very interested in how we take ownership of our own stories and our own lives.

I once had Rachel McAdams over for lunch, when she was with Michael Sheen, who's a friend of mine.