## Metadata - Author: [[Michael Marshall Smith]] - Full Title: More Tomorrow & Other Stories - Category: #books ## Highlights - The angel was fading now, the steady flap of its wings turning back to rain, the grey of its skin becoming cloud once more. As it stood, it turned into rising mist in front of his eyes, its words coming to him as cold wind, blown his way by the beating of those wings. ([Location 885](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00XTAE9JQ&location=885)) - The problem with magic, he’d discovered, was that there was no trick to it. There was practice, and hard work — and the will to put these things into practice. Even buying the little geegaws of the trade didn’t help. All but the most banal still required sleight of hand, which had to be acquired the old-fashioned way. If you learned how a trick worked, all you actually gained was confirmation that it required a skill you didn’t have and lacked the time and energy to acquire. Learning how a trick worked was the same as being told you couldn’t do it. You gained nothing, and lost everything. ([Location 2166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00XTAE9JQ&location=2166))