Teller, from a February interview with The Smithsonian Magazine:

Theater is “willing suspension of disbelief.” Magic is unwilling suspension of disbelief.

On his and his mentor, David G. Rosenbaum’s, thoughts about magic and theatre:

We probed the riddle of magic in the theater. The closest we came to a definition was this: ‘Magic is a form of theater that depicts impossible events as though they were really happening.” In other words, you experience magic as real and unreal at the same time. It’s a very, very odd form, compelling, uneasy and rich in irony.

A romantic novel can make you cry. A horror movie can make you shiver. A symphony can carry you away on an emotional storm; it can go straight to the heart or the feet. But magic goes straight to the brain; its essence is intellectual.

The piece is chock-full of with these amazing nuggets.