The ‘Worst Man in the World’ Tells the Astounding Story of His Life in Articles by Aleister Crowley.

“But I am a white magician, not a black one. I belong to a secret order which has representatives all over the world; we are all working for the good of humanity, not for its downfall.” [via]

Consider also:

  1. “Foolish people say that I am a Black Magician, that I am in the habit of celebrating the Black Mass and the Witches’ Sabbath, that I eat new-born babes and explore the sky on a broomstick. They say that Satan is my master and that I am his faithful agent.”
  2. “Nobody stops to look at me in the street. My appearance is, I suppose, that of a simple country gentleman up in town for a weekend. All my notoriety arises from the fact that I am a magician. I AM THE MASTER THERION. Practically my whole life has been spent in the study of magic.”
  3. “I have been shot at with broad arrows. They have called me the ‘worst man in the world.’ They have accused me of doing everything from murdering women and throwing their bodies into the Seine to drug peddling. Some well-known journalists have delighted in attacking me in print. James Douglas described me as ‘a monster of wickedness.’ Horatio Bottomley branded me as a ‘dirty degenerate’ cannibal–everything he could think of. Some have been more precise.”
  4. “The value of all this nonsense is somewhat discounted by the fact that I am back in England after wandering over most of the world, and go my way without interference. No charge of any sort has ever been preferred against me.”
  5. “‘What’s that?’ ‘The files about Aleister Crowley.’ ‘Goodness gracious me!’ ‘Of course, we haven’t got the last month’s stuff in yet. A bit congested.’ ‘Here, this has got to stop! We can’t put up new buildings every few weeks. Close the record!'”