Robertson Davies Quotes

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

Wise, Woman, Mad

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

Become, Survive, Terrible

Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.
Robertson Davies

Wise, Same, Lovable

The great book for you is the book that has the most to say to you at the moment when you are reading. I do not mean the book that is most instructive, but the book that feeds your spirit. And that depends on your age, your experience, your psychological and spiritual need.
Robertson Davies

Age, Great, Experience

Fanaticism is overcompensation for doubt.
Robertson Davies

Doubt, Fanaticism

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

Age, Great, Morning

Only a fool expects to be happy all the time.
Robertson Davies

Time, Happy, Fool

Canada is not really a place where you are encouraged to have large spiritual adventures.
Robertson Davies

Spiritual, Place, Large

I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.
Robertson Davies

Country, Between, Rather

May I make a suggestion, hoping it is not an impertinence? Write it down: write down what you feel. It is sometimes a wonderful help in misery.
Robertson Davies

Help, May, Down

Students today are a pretty solemn lot. One of the really notable achievements of the twentieth century has been to make the young old before their time.
Robertson Davies

Time, Today, Pretty

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

Mind, Eye, Prepared

A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.
Robertson Davies

Life, Happy, Childhood

A Librettist is a mere drudge in the world of opera.
Robertson Davies

Opera, Drudge, Mere

Do not suppose, however, that I intend to urge a diet of classics on anybody. I have seen such diets at work. I have known people who have actually read all, or almost all, the guaranteed Hundred Best Books. God save us from reading nothing but the best.
Robertson Davies

Work, God, Best

Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
Robertson Davies

Someone, Few, Genius

I do not 'get' ideas; ideas get me.
Robertson Davies

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

Wanted, Loved, Anyone

If we seek the pleasures of love, passion should be occasional, and common sense continual.
Robertson Davies

Love, Passion, Sense

Literary critics, however, frequently suffer from a curious belief that every author longs to extend the boundaries of literary art, wants to explore new dimensions of the human spirit, and if he doesn't, he should be ashamed of himself.
Robertson Davies

Art, Human, Spirit

No people in the world can make you feel so small as the English.
Robertson Davies

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
Robertson Davies

Fake, Nothing, Easy

The drama may be called that part of theatrical art which lends itself most readily to intellectual discussion: what is left is theater.
Robertson Davies

The greatest gift that Oxford gives her sons is, I truly believe, a genial irreverence toward learning, and from that irreverence love may spring.
Robertson Davies

Love, Learning, Greatest

The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.
Robertson Davies

Love, Humor, Truth

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Biography

Nationality: Canadian

Born: August 28, 1913

Died: December 2, 1995

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Cite this Page: Citation

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