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story identification - Where does “anything that can be made by magic can be unmade by magic” come from?


I am trying to find the source of this quote which I remember reading somewhere, but am running into a brick wall. (Note that the phrasing might not be exact, any quote with the general gist of the phrase would be a valid answer).


Google searches for the phrase, with multiple variants (formed, destroyed, disassembled etc) did not find a source from which this phrase could reasonably come from. The main problem came from Google attempting to return hits on the card game Magic: The Gathering, which prevented the intended hit from being found.



Answer




He ticked the situation off on his fingers. "Archie, you've been kicked in the teeth by at least three of the four different types of elementals — earth, fire, and water. Maybe there was a sylph of the air in on it, too, but I can't prove it. First the gnomes came and cleaned out everything you had that came out of the ground, except cold iron. A salamander followed them and set fire to the place, burning everything that was burnable, and scorching and smoke-damaging the rest. Then the undine turned the place into a damned swamp, ruining anything that wouldn't burn, like cement and lime. You're insured?"


(...)


"Don't get your wind up too fast," he reassured me. "What magic can do, magic can undo. What we need is the best wizard in town."


Magic, Inc. by Robert Anson Heinlein




In the short story Magic, Inc. by Heinlein, a shop owner has his shop destroyed. His friend notices that it's the work of magic creatures (magic is just another profession in this world) and advices him how to have the damage undone.


This is the beginning of an adventure in which the underworld is trying to get a monopoly on the use of magic.


It's most commonly found in a book containing this story, and Waldo.


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