Quotes by Robertson Davies

About Robertson Davies:

William Robertson Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself and to have detested. Davies was the founding Master of Massey College, a graduate residential college associated with the University of Toronto.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Fanaticism is overcompensation for doubt.

Robertson Davies

The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said, however inexperienced the writer.

Robertson Davies

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

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

Robertson Davies

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

Robertson Davies

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

Robertson Davies

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

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

What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.

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

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

Robertson Davies

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

Robertson Davies

The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also his most difficult task.

Robertson Davies

To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser.

Robertson Davies

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

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

We wanted to meet him, for though we were neither of us naive people we had not wholly lost our belief that it is delightful to meet artists who have given us pleasure.

Robertson Davies

You never see what you want to see, forever playing to the gallery.

Robertson Davies

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

Robertson Davies

What is meant to be heard is necessarily more direct in expression, and perhaps more boldly coloured, than what is meant for the reader.

Robertson Davies

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

Author Bio

  • NameRobertson Davies
  • DescriptionCanadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
  • BornAugust 28, 1913
  • DiedDecember 2, 1995
  • CountryCanada
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist; Reporter; Playwright; Professor; Musicologist
  • AwardsMolson Prize; Companion Of The Order Of Canada