用普通的话来说，这个咒语就是——阿巴拉卡达巴拉，芝麻开门，而且还有另外的东西——在一个故事里的咒语在另一故事里就不灵了。真正的魔力在于知道哪个咒语有用，在什么时候，用于做什么，其诀窍就在于学会有关的诀窍。
而这些咒语也是用我们的字母表里的字母拼出来的，这个字母表中不过是几十个可以用笔画出来的弯弯曲线。这就是最关键的！而那些珍宝也是如此，如果我们能将它们拿到手中的话！这就像是说，就像通向珍宝的钥匙就是珍宝！
——John Barth, Chimera（奇想）



... It's in words that the magic is -- Abracadabra, Open Sesame, and the rest -- but the magic words in one story aren't magical in the next. The real magic is to understand which words work, and when, and for what; the trick is to learn the trick.
... And those words are made from the letters of our alphabet: a couple-dozen squiggles we can draw with the pen. This is the key! And the treasure, too, if we can only get our hands on it! It's as if -- as if the key to the treasure is the treasure!
John Barth, Chimera