Robertson Davies Quotes - Page 5

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• To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels; dangerous, for the same reason.

  Robertson Davies

  Men, Jewels, Speech

  "Colombia's Quotations Add Wit to Your Work" by Melissa J. Perenson. PC Mag, March 15, 1994.

  9 Copy quote

• Every man is wise when attacked by a mad dog; fewer when pursued by a mad woman; only the wisest survive when attacked by a mad notion.

  Robertson Davies

  Funny, Wise, Dog

  Robertson Davies (1968). “Marchbanks' almanack”

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• No one needs a word processor if he has an efficient secretary.

  Robertson Davies

  Needs, Efficient, Secretary

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• It is a waste of time to dissipate one's moral zeal in disapproving of royal persons who have mistresses.

  Robertson Davies

  Mistress, Waste, Royal

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• It was as though she was an exile from a world that saw things her way

  Robertson Davies

  World, Way, Saws

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

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• Clarity is not a characteristic of the human spirit.

  Robertson Davies

  Spirit, Clarity, Characteristics

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

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• here are some homosexuals whom we would do well to take seriously.

  Robertson Davies

  Homosexual, Wells

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• But as a skeptic I am dubious about science as about everything else, unless the scientist is himself a skeptic, and few of them are. The stench of formaldehyde may be as potent as the whiff of incense in stimulating a naturally idolatrous understanding.

  Robertson Davies

  Science, Understanding, Dubious

  4 Copy quote

• I saw corpses, and grew used to their unimportant look, for a dead man without any of the panoply of death is a desperately insignificant object.

  Robertson Davies

  Men, Looks, Saws

  1970 Of World War I. Fifth Business, pt.2, ch.1.

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• The problem for a Paracelsian physician like me is that I see diseases as disguises in which people present me with their wretchedness.

  Robertson Davies

  People, Physicians, Disease

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

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• The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said, however inexperienced the writer.

  Robertson Davies

  Quality, Inexperience, Way

  Robertson Davies (1961). “The Personal Art: Reading to Good Purpose”, London : Secker & Warburg

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• Let people alone. Let them find their way. Let them find their level and you may sometimes be delighted and astonished at the extraordinary high level to which they'll rise if they're let alone.

  Robertson Davies

  People, Levels, May

  "Conversations with Robertson Davies". Book by Robertson Davies, "Gzowski on FM", 1989.

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• Happiness is a by-product. It is not a primary product of life. It is a thing which you suddenly realize you have because you're so delighted to be doing something which perhaps has nothing whatever to do with happiness.

  Robertson Davies

  Realizing, Delighted, Primaries

  Robertson Davies, J. Madison Davis (1989). “Conversations with Robertson Davies”, p.179, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Inactivity and deprivation of all accustomed stimulus is not rest; it is a preparation for the tomb

  Robertson Davies

  Preparation, Deprivation, Stimulus

  Robertson Davies (2008). “Selected works on the art of writing”, Penguin Group Canada

  7 Copy quote

• You're all mad for words. Words are just farts from a lot of fools who have swallowed too many books. Give me things!

  Robertson Davies

  Book, Mad, Giving

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

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• Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular.

  Robertson Davies

  Happiness, Happy, May

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• Real bibliophiles do not put their books on shelves for people to look at or handle. They have no desire to show off their darlings, or to amaze people with their possessions. They keep their prized books hidden away in a secret spot to which they resort stealthily, like a Caliph visiting his harem, or a church elder sneaking into a bar. To be a book collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope-fiend with those of a miser.

  Robertson Davies

  Real, Book, Dope

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• Childhood may have periods of great happiness, but it also has times that must simply be endured. Childhood at its best is a form of slavery tempered by affection.

  Robertson Davies

  Childhood, Slavery, May

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

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• Comparatively few people know what a million dollars actually is. To the majority it is a gaseous concept, swelling or decreasing as the occasion suggests. In the minds of politicians, perhaps more than anywhere, the notion of a million dollars has this accordion-like ability to expand or contract; if they are disposing of it, the million is a pleasing sum, reflecting warmly upon themselves; if somebody else wants it, it becomes a figure of inordinate size, not to be compassed by the rational mind.

  Robertson Davies

  Money, War, People

  7 Copy quote

• The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yielding and even deferential in things he doesn't consider important; in anything that touches his core he is remorseless.

  Robertson Davies

  Self, Doubt, Important

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• Many authors write like amateur blacksmiths making their first horseshoe; the clank of the anvil, the stench of the scorched leather apron, the sparks and the cursing are palpable, and this appeals to those who rank "sincerity" very high. Nabokov is more like a master swordsmith making a fine blade; nothing is amiss, nothing is too much, there is no fuss, and the finished product must be handled with great care, or it will cut you badly.

  Robertson Davies

  Writing, Cutting, Care

  Review of Nabokov's Lolita, 1958.

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• I never heard of anyone who was really literate or who ever really loved books who wanted to suppress any of them.

  Robertson Davies

  Book, Heard, Wanted

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

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• There are times when I think that the reading I have done in the past has had no effect except to cloud my mind and make me indecisive

  Robertson Davies

  Reading, Past, Thinking

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

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• Energy and curiosity are the lifeblood of universities; the desire to find out, to uncover, to dig deeper, to puzzle out obscurities, is the spirit of the university, and it is a channelling of that unresting curiosity that holds mankind together.

  Robertson Davies

  Curiosity, Desire, Together

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

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• Although there may be nothing new under the sun, what is old is new to us and so rich and astonishing that we never tire of it. If we do tire of it, if we lose our curiosity, we have lost something of infinite value, because to a high degree it is curiosity that gives meaning and savour to life.

  Robertson Davies

  Giving, Curiosity, Degrees

  Robertson Davies (2008). “Selected works on the art of writing”, Penguin Group Canada

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