Quotes by Robertson Davies

Robertson Davies

Robertson Davies

Canadian novelist and journalist

Lived from: 1913 - 1995

Category: Media | Writers (Contemporary) Country: FlagCanada

Born: 28 august 1913 Died: 2 december 1995

  • 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.
  • I think of an author as somebody who goes into the marketplace and puts down his rug and says, ''I will tell you a story,'' and then he passes the hat.

Quotes 1 till 18 of 18.

  • A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.
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  • A Librettist is a mere drudge in the world of opera.
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  • 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.
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  • Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.
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  • Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
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  • He types his labored column - weary drudge! Senile fudge and solemn: spare, editor, to condemn these dry leaves of his autumn.
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  • I think of an author as somebody who goes into the marketplace and puts down his rug and says, ''I will tell you a story,'' and then he passes the hat.
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  • If we seek the pleasures of love, passion should be occasional, and common sense continual.
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  • 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.
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  • Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
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  • Pornography is rather like trying to find out about a Beethoven symphony by having somebody tell you about it and perhaps hum a few bars.
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  • The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
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  • The greatest gift that Oxford gives her sons is, I truly believe, a genial irreverence toward learning, and from that irreverence love may spring.
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  • The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.
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  • To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser.
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  • Too much traffic with a quotation book begets a conviction of ignorance in a sensitive reader. Not only is there a mass of quotable stuff he never quotes, but an even vaster realm of which he has never heard.
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  • What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.
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  • You never see what you want to see, forever playing to the gallery.
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Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Robertson Davies?

The two most famous quotes from Robertson Davies are:

  • "A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life."
  • "A Librettist is a mere drudge in the world of opera."

When did Robertson Davies live?

Robertson Davies was born in 1913 and died in the year 1995.