Robertson Davies Quotes

"He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities."
-Robertson Davies in Genius quotes.

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

"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 in Books quotes.

"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 in Americans quotes.

"One of the most difficult tasks for the educated and sophisticated mind is to recognize that some clichés are also important truths."
-Robertson Davies

"To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser."
-Robertson Davies in Books quotes.

"The people who fear humor - and there are many -are suspicious of its power to present things in unexpected lights to question received opinions and to suggest unforeseen possibilities."
-Robertson Davies in Humor quotes.

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

"The love that dare not speak its name has become the love that won't shut up."
-Robertson Davies in Love quotes.

"Only a fool expects to be happy all the time."
-Robertson Davies in Happiness quotes.

"The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past."
-Robertson Davies in Future 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

"Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and 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 in Happiness quotes.

"Many a promising career has been wrecked by marrying the wrong sort of woman. The right sort of woman can distinguish between Creative Lassitude and plain shiftlessness."
-Robertson Davies

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

"Tristan and Isolde were lucky to die when they did. They'd have been sick of all that rubbish in a year."
-Robertson Davies

"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

"If we seek the pleasures of love, passion should be occasional and common sense continual."
-Robertson Davies in Love quotes.