The wonderful thing is, imagination is universal all over the

“The wonderful thing is, imagination is universal all over the world, no matter what the language is.” Thus spoke Roy Horn, one half of the legendary duo Siegfried & Roy, whose mastery of illusion and wonder bridged cultures, languages, and generations. In these few words, Horn speaks a truth older than the pyramids and as boundless as the human spirit: that imagination is the common tongue of all humanity. Where words falter, images and dreams endure. Where nations divide, the imagination unites — for it flows not from the mouth, but from the soul.

Horn’s life itself was a testament to this truth. Born in Germany during an age of ruin and recovery, he rose from obscurity to enchant millions through performances that transcended speech. His art was not in sentences, but in spectacle — a theater of beauty, courage, and mystery. When the tigers roared, when the lights blazed, when the illusions unfolded, people from every corner of the earth understood. No translator was needed. For imagination has no accent, no grammar, no nation. It speaks directly to the heart, and the heart understands.

The ancients knew this language well. Long before alphabets carved meaning into stone, humankind painted upon the walls of caves. The hunter of the plains, the priestess of the fire, the child staring at the stars — all were fluent in the speech of imagination. The drawings of Lascaux or Altamira, tens of thousands of years old, still speak to us now. We do not know the names of their makers, nor the words of their tribes, yet we feel their wonder. A single image of a bison, alive in ochre and charcoal, whispers across millennia: I dreamed this. Such is the power of the universal imagination — it binds the living to the dead, the past to the future, the known to the mysterious.

Roy Horn’s wisdom also reminds us of what art is meant to do. True art, like true imagination, dissolves boundaries. It does not belong to the rich or the poor, to the East or the West, to the scholar or the child. When a melody stirs the heart, when a painting brings tears, when a story lifts the spirit — all souls understand. Even silence can be art, for within it the imagination moves unseen, shaping emotion into meaning. The mystics and poets of every age have called this the divine language — that silent fire of thought which all can feel but none can own.

Consider the tale of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the French pilot and author of The Little Prince. He wrote of a small boy from another planet who learned the secrets of love, loneliness, and wonder. His words, though penned in French, were read by hearts in every language. The story’s imagination soared beyond its words — for when the little prince says, “What is essential is invisible to the eye,” he speaks to the soul of every human being who has ever loved or lost. Such stories are not national treasures; they are treasures of the spirit, carried in the flight of imagination across the whole world.

In our age, where tongues multiply and voices clash, Roy Horn’s truth is more urgent than ever. The imagination is the great bridge between cultures, the radiant thread that weaves humanity into one fabric. It is the antidote to division, the healer of misunderstanding. For in the realm of imagination, we do not see “them” or “us” — only vision, possibility, creation. When we look upon a painting from China, a dance from Africa, a symphony from Europe, or a film from India, we are reminded that we share one eternal faculty: the power to dream.

The lesson, then, is clear: cherish your imagination, and honor it in others. Do not let language or difference blind you to the universality of wonder. When you encounter the art, music, or stories of another culture, listen not with the ears of translation, but with the heart of empathy. For the imagination speaks in symbols that transcend speech — in color, rhythm, and vision. It is through imagination that we remember we are one people beneath many tongues, one fire burning beneath many skies.

So let these words of Roy Horn echo like a benediction: imagination is universal. It is the world’s common dream, the light that shines through every mind, the sacred bridge between all hearts. Wherever you travel, whatever tongue greets your ear, look into the eyes of those around you — there you will find the same spark, the same creative flame that has guided humanity since its dawn. Nurture it, share it, and protect it. For in the end, it is not language that defines us, but the limitless reach of our imagination.