To ask an author who hopes to be a serious writer if his work is autobiographical is like asking a spider where he buys his thread. The spider gets his thread right out of his own guts, and that is where the author gets his writing. Robertson Davies More Quotes by Robertson Davies More Quotes From Robertson Davies Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it. Robertson Davies ordinary-extraordinary adversity courage The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. Robertson Davies educational eye knowledge 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 reading morning book We mistrust anything that too strongly challenges our ideal of mediocrity. Robertson Davies mistrust mediocrity challenges Conversation in its true meaning isn't all wagging the tongue; sometimes it is a deeply shared silence. Robertson Davies tongue silence sometimes On the whole, we treat the Devil shamefully, and the worse we treat Him the more He laughs at us. Robertson Davies satanic devil laughing All mothers think their children are oaks, but the world never lacks for cabbages. Robertson Davies parenting mother children Love affairs are for emotional sprinters; the pleasures of love are for the emotional marathoners. Robertson Davies affair pleasure emotional A man must be obedient to the promptings of his innermost heart. Robertson Davies heart men thinking The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past. Robertson Davies future people past This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Goodnight. Robertson Davies admission taxation theatre Moderation, the Golden Mean, the Aristonmetron, is the secret of wisdom and of happiness. But it does not mean embracing an unadventurous mediocrity; rather it is an elaborate balancing act, a feat of intellectual skill demanding constant vigilance. Its aim is a reconciliation of opposites. Robertson Davies skills acceptance mean It is not always easy to diagnose. The simplest form of stupidity - the mumbling, nose-picking, stolid incomprehension - can be detected by anyone. But the stupidity which disguises itself as thought, and which talks so glibly and eloquently, indeed never stops talking, in every walk of life is not so easy to identify, because it marches under a formidable name, which few dare attack. It is called Popular Opinion. Robertson Davies stupidity names talking When irony first makes itself known in a young man's life, it can be like his first experience of getting drunk; he has met with a powerful thing which he does not know how to handle. Robertson Davies drunk powerful men The whole world is burdened with young fogies. Old men with ossified minds are easily dealt with. But men who look young, act young, and everlastingly harp on the fact they are young, but who nevertheless think and act with a degree of caution which would be excessive in their grandfathers, are the curses of the world. Robertson Davies grandfather men thinking The book forces itself into my mind when I am lugging furniture, or pulling weeds. Robertson Davies weed mind book I cannot imagine any boy of spirit who would not be delighted to play a drunkard even to vomiting in front of his Sunday school. Indeed, the vomiting might be the chief attraction of the role. Robertson Davies sunday boys school The Alexander Technique keeps the body alive, at ages when many people have resigned themselves to irreversible decline. Robertson Davies technique age people I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind... At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves. Robertson Davies wise blue hands There is absolutely no point in sitting down to write a book unless you feel that you must write that book, or else go mad, or die. Robertson Davies mad writing book
