A biography for Derren Brownhasn’t been written yet.
“A bedrock of insecurity made me want to impress and want to be the center of attention.”
“If people have very big personalities, I find myself feeling I have nothing to offer.”
“The Stoics appear during a huge time of constant wars and real political strife. And it became very popular, I think, because it's a way of distancing yourself from strife and keeping your centre of gravity within you.”
“I'm not very sociable. If I get invited to a glamorous event I probably won't go. That world does not really appeal to me.”
“A lot of unconfident kids do tricks because it's the quickest route to impressing people. You can stand behind something amazing and people think you're amazing.”
“Magic should get under people's skins.”
“Magic has both feet planted in cheap vaudeville and childish posturing; in dishonesty and therefore not in art.”
“I really liked 'Heist,' and that seems to be a popular favourite, but I think my personal favourite was 'Hero at 30,000 ft,' about the guy who ended up landing the aeroplane.”
“Suggestibility is a very loose term. You may not be the sort of person who responds well to a hypnotist on stage, but you might find, for example, that a doctor administering a placebo to you is something you respond well to.”
“I never really enjoy the thought of fancy dress.”
“I remember Doritos launched a new flavour and the question was whether I could use my skills - as they perceived them - to make people desire and want to try this new flavour. But I like to be in control of the things I do and feel proud of them.”
“Feeling we have to be constantly updated about the lives of our friends and that everything we say has to be out there leads to frustration, anger and jealousy much more than it leads to anything else.”
“Kindness and compassion aren't political qualities even though they get politicized.”
“I don't want to be some extreme therapist. Although seeing someone's life change for the better is a really moving thing.”
“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 wore a cloak for many years, I had long hair, I may have had a drop earring for a week and I fancied myself as a philosopher poet but was somewhere more in the gay female leisure pirate.”
“I'm very interested in how we take ownership of our own stories and our own lives.”
“So I don't really suffer too badly from fears - I'm quite happy to engender them in other people though!”
“If you do magic, it's the quickest most fraudulent route to impressing people.”
“I don't like big spiders in the house.”