Robertson Davies Quotes

Quotes about:

• Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.

  Robertson Davies

  Courage, Adversity, Ordinary Extraordinary

  Robertson Davies, J. Madison Davis (1989). “Conversations with Robertson Davies”, p.166, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  100 Copy quote

• The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

  Robertson Davies

  Educational, Knowledge, Eye

  Robertson Davies (1952). “Tempest-tost”, Clarke Irwin

  75 Copy quote

• There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.

  Robertson Davies

  Stupid, History, Doctrine

  63 Copy quote

• Conversation in its true meaning isn't all wagging the tongue; sometimes it is a deeply shared silence.

  Robertson Davies

  Silence, Tongue, Sometimes

  Robertson Davies (1992). “The Cornish Trilogy”, Penguin Group USA

  31 Copy quote

• Never harbor grudges; they sour your stomach and do no harm to anyone else.

  Robertson Davies

  Inspirational, Grudge, Harm

  Robertson Davies (1991). “Murther and Walking Spirits”, Penguin Group USA

  15 Copy quote

• Boredom and stupidity and patriotism, especially when combined, are three of the greatest evils of the world we live in.

  Robertson Davies

  Boredom, Evil, Stupidity

  Robertson Davies (1976). “World of wonders”, Penguin Books, 1977

  11 Copy quote

• The result of a single action may spread like the circles that expand when a stone is thrown into a pond, until they touch places and people unguessed at by the person who threw the stone.

  Robertson Davies

  Circles, People, Ponds

  Robertson Davies (2008). “Selected Works on the Pleasures of Reading”, Penguin Group Canada

  7 Copy quote

• The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.

  Robertson Davies

  Future, Past, People

  "A Voice from the Attic". Book by Robertson Davies, 1960.

  34 Copy quote

• A man must be obedient to the promptings of his innermost heart.

  Robertson Davies

  Heart, Men, Thinking

  30 Copy quote

• The art of the quoter is to know when to stop.

  Robertson Davies

  Art, Knows

  Robertson Davies (1992). “The Cornish Trilogy”, Penguin Group USA

  6 Copy quote

• A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.

  Robertson Davies

  Morning, Reading, Book

  34 Copy quote

• If you don't hurry up and let life know what you want, life will damned soon show you what you'll get.

  Robertson Davies

  Moving On, Letting Go, Goal

  Robertson Davies (1983). “The Deptford trilogy”, Penguin Mass Market

  7 Copy quote

• This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Goodnight.

  Robertson Davies

  Theatre, Taxation, Admission

  Robertson Davies (1996). “The Cunning Man”, Penguin Group USA

  25 Copy quote

• All mothers think their children are oaks, but the world never lacks for cabbages.

  Robertson Davies

  Mother, Children, Parenting

  Robertson Davies (1976). “World of wonders”, Penguin Books, 1977

  26 Copy quote

• It is not always easy to diagnose. The simplest form of stupidity - the mumbling, nose-picking, stolid incomprehension - can be detected by anyone. But the stupidity which disguises itself as thought, and which talks so glibly and eloquently, indeed never stops talking, in every walk of life is not so easy to identify, because it marches under a formidable name, which few dare attack. It is called Popular Opinion.

  Robertson Davies

  Talking, Names, Stupidity

  Robertson Davies (1996). “The Merry Heart: Selections 1980-1995”

  20 Copy quote

• We mistrust anything that too strongly challenges our ideal of mediocrity.

  Robertson Davies

  Challenges, Mediocrity, Mistrust

  Robertson Davies (1999). “Happy Alchemy: On the Pleasures of Music and the Theatre”, Penguin Group USA

  16 Copy quote

• If you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.

  Robertson Davies

  Happiness, Happy, Worry

  10 Copy quote

• I was not sure I wanted to issue orders to life; I rather liked the Greek notion of allowing Chance to take a formative hand in my affairs.

  Robertson Davies

  Life, Hands, Order

  Robertson Davies (1996). “Fifth business”, Penguin, 1996

  5 Copy quote

• Only a fool expects to be happy all the time.

  Robertson Davies

  Fool, Foolishness

  13 Copy quote

• Oho, now I know what you are. You are an advocate of Useful Knowledge.... Well, allow me to introduce myself to you as an advocate of Ornamental Knowledge. You like the mind to be a neat machine, equipped to work efficiently, if narrowly, and with no extra bits or useless parts. I like the mind to be a dustbin of scraps of brilliant fabric, odd gems, worthless but fascinating curiosities, tinsel, quaint bits of carving, and a reasonable amount of healthy dirt. Shake the machine and it goes out of order; shake the dustbin and it adjusts itself beautifully to its new position.

  Robertson Davies

  Knowledge, Order, Healthy

  Robertson Davies (1952). “Tempest-tost”, Clarke Irwin

  29 Copy quote

• A man who recognizes no God is probably placing an inordinate value on himself.

  Robertson Davies

  God, Men, Values

  Robertson Davies, J. Madison Davis (1989). “Conversations with Robertson Davies”, p.65, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  7 Copy quote

• The nature of happiness is such that happiness retreats the more intensely you pursue it.

  Robertson Davies

  Motivational, Happiness, Retreat

  "To college grads: Love life and work" by William J. Bennett, www.cnn.com. June 2, 2011.

  8 Copy quote

• One of the things that puzzles me is that so few people want to look at life as a totality and to recognize that death is no more extraordinary than birth. When they say it's the end of everything they don't seem to recognize that we came from somewhere and it would be very, very strange indeed to suppose that we're not going somewhere.

  Robertson Davies

  People, Would Be, Looks

  Robertson Davies, J. Madison Davis (1989). “Conversations with Robertson Davies”, p.157, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  12 Copy quote

• The dog is a yes-animal. Very popular with people who can't afford a yes man.

  Robertson Davies

  Funny, Dog, Silly

  Robertson Davies (1949). “The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks”, Clarke, Irwin

  26 Copy quote

• It is odd how all men develop the notion, as they grow older, that their mothers were wonderful cooks. I have yet to meet a man who will admit that his mother was a kitchen assassin and nearly poisoned him.

  Robertson Davies

  Mother, Food, Men

  Robertson Davies (1986). “The papers of Samuel Marchbanks”, Viking, 1986

  16 Copy quote

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