Robertson Davies Quotes

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

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

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

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Only a fool expects to be happy all the time.

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.

Fanaticism is overcompensation for doubt.

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.

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

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

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.