Derren Brown quotes - page 3

There is no hypnotic phenomenon, no matter how remarkable it may appear, which cannot be re-created outside of a hypnotic state through such ordinary devices such as suggestion, hype and the exercise of charisma. (Derren Brown)
I cannot see the word ‘troubled' prefixing the name of some poor starlet who has been dragged through the mire of tabloid spite without vomiting directly onto the newspaper. Troubled by whom? Troubled by you, you fuckwits. View quote
Derren Brown
One of the reasons I enjoy going to the Opera is the spectacle of an audience enraptured. Their emotions are engaged, their passions brought to the fore, they become highly sensitive. View quote
Derren Brown
Many things we misread as meaningful are quite ordinary coincidences. For example, it's not unlikely that occasionally someone will phone you after you've been thinking about them. But we give these things value to make sense of our lives. View quote
Derren Brown
Séances lost their popularity with the invention of infrared photography when it became possible to see what mediums were doing in the dark. Nowadays, spiritualists' fakery is more ambiguous and subtle. View quote
Derren Brown
This is the comforting and lovely Leadenhall Market, an accommodating inter-mammary cleft in the bosom of old Londinium. View quote
Derren Brown
The sort of ill-informed armchair moralizing that pours from the permanently outraged, Daily Mail-reading mentality is one of the more revolting and frightening aspects of our society. View quote
Derren Brown
The capacity for self-deception, rarely acknowledged or understood by those who offer us supernatural answers to our problems, is huge: as easy as it is to make a medium's cold-reading statements ‘fit' our own situation and come to believe that he must have some paranormal insight, it is hardly any more difficult for a would-be psychic with an average ego, upon hearing frequently positive feedback, to believe over time that he must be blessed with a special gift. It's harder to think you're doing it for real when you're tossing tambourines in the dark or have ready-made ectoplasm stuffed into your mouth or bottom. View quote
Derren Brown
There is a real irony to the NLPers I knew who prided themselves on their communication skills yet because of their need to let everyone know how engaging they were, they were among the least engaging. View quote
Derren Brown
The Sun has come to represent enlightenment and salvation across many cultures. I think that if we remove such comforting concepts we are required to do more soul searching but eventually our eyes become accustomed to the dark and our lives become richer. View quote
Derren Brown
Shopping Malls: Modern cathedrals to spending money. They're designed to disorientate us and make us stay longer than we need to. Every brick is there to manipulate us to buy. (Derren Brown)
All of us can be influenced through psychological techniques. For example, if I say "don't think of a black cat” what do you do? You think of a black cat because the command ‘think of a black cat' was there in the sentence. Techniques like this can be used to influence people's thoughts, behaviour, even their memory. View quote
Derren Brown
In the nineteenth century, so-called ‘psychics' were often tested by having to guess the details on a postcard sealed in an envelope. Often they did surprisingly well so i thought it would be worth presenting some modern day non-psychics with the same challenge. View quote
Derren Brown
We form many of our political opinions through reading papers and unconsciously absorbing the rhetoric of the journalists. Later, we spout the same opinions as our own. This parallels the way we respond to any authority and it's something politicians understand well. View quote
Derren Brown
Some people believe that a person's spirit is captured when they are photographed. I invite those of you who don't believe that to take a photograph of someone you love a stab it repeatedly with a pair of scissors. Maybe they do capture something of the soul. View quote
Derren Brown
I'm going to teach them some genuine skills that I use, peppered with some spurious pop-psychology and quite a lot of bullshit. View quote
Derren Brown
Animals can also be ‘hypnotised'. Flip a rabbit on its back, hold it firmly in position with its head back for a couple of minutes, and you'll find it will become perfectly motionless and unresponsive, until you clap your hands loudly above its head. View quote
Derren Brown
Canterbury Cathedral: The first ever pocket watch was found in the walls of its cloister many hundreds of years ago. I decided to come, in the rain, to play with the locals and, if time permitted, attend the evening service. View quote
Derren Brown
This week, we're in Whitby on the North-east coast where my great-uncle, Count Dracula, first touched British soil in the shape of a big dog. View quote
Derren Brown
Some athletes use the mind to try and improve stamina and strength. Can I use my mind to take it away? View quote
Derren Brown
A lot is said about children having stronger psychic ability because they're so unjaded and innocent. This excruciating view of children is generally expounded by people who think like children and perhaps can be forgiven. (Derren Brown)
Russian Roulette should not, under any circumstances, be copied. It is extremely dangerous. View quote
Derren Brown
I have had no formal training in painting: I gave up Art A level because I was sick of drawing peppers. View quote
Derren Brown
I like my parrot, Figaro. Not in a wrong way – I mean, yes, he'll do anything for a mouth full of seed but nothing tacky. View quote
Derren Brown
For me, the most enjoyable aspect of going out and performing is that I never know how susceptible people will be to my methods. View quote
Derren Brown