Harry Houdini As quoted in The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini‎ (1993) by Ruth Brandon, p. 153
“

I knew, as everyone knows, that the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place some one is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death. That's what attracts us to the man who paints the flagstaff on the tall building, or to the 'human fly' who scales the walls of the same building.

— Harry Houdini on Building

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I knew, as everyone knows, that the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place some one is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death. That's what attracts us to the man who paints the flagstaff on the tall building, or to the 'human fly' who scales the walls of the same building." in the context of "Harry Houdini As quoted in The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini‎ (1993) by Ruth Brandon, p. 153" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Building" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Harry Houdini

About Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (24 March 1874 – 31 October 1926) was a Hungarian-born American stage magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, film producer and investigator of spiritualist claims; born Erik Weisz he used the name Ehrich Weiss until legally changing his name to "Harry Houdini" in 1913.