Robertson Davies Quotes - Page 9

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It is in this matter that I fall foul of so many American writers on writing; they seem to think that writing is a confidence game by means of which the author cajoles a restless, dull-witted, shallow audience into hearing his point of view. Such an attitude is base, and can only beget base prose.

Robertson Davies

Attitude, Fall, Mean

"Elements of Style". Essay by Robertson Davies, 1959.

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Celtic civilization was tribal, but by no means savage or uncultivated. People who regarded the theft of a harp from a bard as a crime second only to an attack on the tribal chieftain cannot be regarded as wanting in cultivated feeling.

Robertson Davies

Mean, Civilization, People

Robertson Davies, Surridge, Jennifer (1997). “Happy Alchemy: Writings on the Theatre and Other Lively Arts”, M&S

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Anybody who has had experience of poetesses knows that they may forgive a punch on the jaw, but never a suggestion that they would be wiser to give up versifying.

Robertson Davies

Giving Up, Forgiving, Suggestions

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Our forebears are deserving of tribute for one indisputable reason, if for no other: without them we should not be here. Let us recognize that we are not the ultimate triumph but rather we are beads on a string. Let us behave with decency to the beads that were strung before us and hope modestly that the beads that come after us will not hold us of no account simply because we are dead.

Robertson Davies

Triumph, Reason, Should

"Haunted by Halloween". The New York Times, October 31, 1990.

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Of course, fairies are all imported in North America. We have no native fairies. The Little People do not long survive importation unless they go to California and grow large and beautiful, but haven't much flavour, like the fruit and the film stars.

Robertson Davies

Beautiful, Stars, California

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

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The pleasures of love are for those who are hopelessly addicted to another living creature. The reasons for such addiction are so many that I suspect they are never the same in any two cases. It includes passion but does not survive by passion; it has its whiffs of the agreeable vertigo of young love, but it is stable more often than dizzy; it is a growing, changing thing, and it is tactful enough to give the addicted parties occasional rests from strong and exhausting feeling of any kind.

Robertson Davies

Strong, Party, Passion

"The Pleasures of Love". Book by Robertson Davies, 1961.

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The US, for historical reasons, mistrusts the concept of a welfare state, and this mistrust shows itself nakedly under present US government, which commits uncounted billions of the national wealth to what it calls defence, and is close-fisted in giving money to plans which would ameliorate the grinding poverty of a great part of its people. Quite simply, in Canada you could not get away with that.

Robertson Davies

Giving Money, Government, People

Robertson Davies (1997). “The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading, Writing, and the World of Books”, Viking Press

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Art is always at peril in universities, where there are so many people, young and old, who love art less than argument, and dote upon a text that provides the nutritious pemmican on which scholars love to chew.

Robertson Davies

Art, People, Argument

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

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A great many complimentary things have been said about the faculty of memory, and if you look in a good quotation book you will find them neatly arranged.

Robertson Davies

Memories, Book, Looks

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"Civilization rests on two things," said Hitzig; "the discovery that fermentation produces alcohol, and voluntary ability to inhibit defecation. And I put it to you, where would this splendidly civilized occasion be without both?"

Robertson Davies

Discovery, Civilization, Two

"The Cornish Trilogy".

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I don't suppose God laughs at the people who think He doesn't exist. He's above jokes. But the devil isn't. That's one of his most endearing qualities.

Robertson Davies

Thinking, People, Laughing

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

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The people of the United States, perhaps more than any other nation in history, love to abase themselves and proclaim their unworthiness, and seem to find refreshment in doing so... That is a dark frivolity, but still frivolity.

Robertson Davies

Dark, America, People

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Very often when I am introduced to women, I think, What is she really like behind the disguise which she wears? And very often I discover that she is pleasant enough, and probably would expand and glow if she received enough affection.

Robertson Davies

Women, Thinking, Affection

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

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Several children present me with scraps of paper for autographs: obviously don't know who I am and don't care. I sign "Jackie Collins" and they go away quite content.

Robertson Davies

Children, Who I Am, Going Away

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

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The inert mind is a greater danger than the inert body, for it overlays and stifles the desire to live.

Robertson Davies

Mind, Desire, Body

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Canada was settled, in the main, by people with a lower middle-class outlook, and a respect, rather than an affectionate familiarity, for the things of the mind.

Robertson Davies

Class, People, Mind

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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In too many modern churches there is no emphasis on theology at all. There is a kind of justification by works or by keeping up with modern trends anything that will drag in a few more people.

Robertson Davies

People, Church, Trends

"Conversations with Robertson Davies". Book by Robertson Davies, "Author Says Messiah Could Be a Woman", 1989.

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My curiosity was in no way cruel. Deviations from the commonplace attracted me strongly, as they still do; and to me the hermaphrodite and the living skeleton were interesting for the same reason as was Creatore, or the resplendent Guardsmen of the bands - because such people did not often come my way, and I hoped that they might impart some great revelation to me, some insight which would help me to a clearer understanding of the world about me.

Robertson Davies

Skeletons, Interesting, People

"I Remember Creatore". Essay by Robertson Davies, 1948.

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I am quite a wise old bird, but I am no desert hermit who can only prophesy when his guts are knotted with hunger. I am deep in the old man’s puzzle, trying to link the wisdom of the body with the wisdom of the spirit until the two are one.

Robertson Davies

Wise, Men, Two

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

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If I had my way books would not be written in English but in an exceedingly difficult secret language.... This plan would have the advantage of scaring off all amateur authors, retired politicians, country doctors...who would not have the patience to learn the secret language.

Robertson Davies

Country, Book, Doctors

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To instruct calls for energy, and to remain almost silent, but watchful and helpful, while students instruct themselves, calls for even greater energy. To see someone fall (which will teach him not to fall again) when a word from you would keep him on his feet but ignorant of an important danger, is one of the tasks of the teacher that calls for special energy, because holding in is more demanding than crying out.

Robertson Davies

Teacher, Fall, Feet

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

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The first principle, when you don't know anything about the subject of a thesis, is to let the candidate talk, nodding now and then with an ambiguous smile. He thinks you know, and are counting his mistakes, and it unnerves him... the second principle of conducting an oral, ... is to pretend ignorance, and ask for explanations of very simple points. Of course your ignorance is real, but the examinee thinks you are being subtle, and that he is making an ass of himself, and this rattles him.

Robertson Davies

Mistake, Real, Ignorance

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Computers will have to learn that when I quote from some old author who spelled differently from the machine, the wishes of the long-dead author will have to be respected, and the machine will have to mind its manners

Robertson Davies

Long, Mind, Wish

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The little boy nodded at the peony and the peony seemed to nod back. The little boy was neat, clean and pretty. The peony was unchaste, dishevelled as peonies must be, and at the height of its beauty.(...) Every hour is filled with such moments, big with significance for someone.

Robertson Davies

Boys, Littles, Height

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

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Speakers' nerves affect them in various ways. Some tremble, some become frenzied. I lose all confidence, and suffer from a leaden oppression that makes me wonder why I ever agreed to speak at all; the Tomb and the Conqueror Worm seem preferable to delivering the stupid and piffling speech I have so carefully prepared.

Robertson Davies

Stupid, Suffering, Speech

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

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Born: August 28, 1913
Died: December 2, 1995
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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