Robertson Davies Quotes
Most popular Robertson Davies Quotes
![Biography at its best is a form of fiction. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/16/27116A-biography-at-its-best-is-a-form-fiction-robertson-davies.png)
Biography at its best is a form of fiction.
![Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/90/41790A-nothing-is-so-easy-to-fake-as-inner-vision-robertson-davies.png)
Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
![The love of truth lies at the root of much humor. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/36/14836A-the-love-of-truth-lies-at-root-much-humor-robertson-davies.png)
The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.
![Experience is wine, and art is the brandy we distill from it. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/90/26390A-experience-is-wine-and-art-is-brandy-we-distill-from-robertson-davies.png)
Experience is wine, and art is the brandy we distill from it.
![What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/16/35316A-what-we-call-luck-is-the-inner-man-externalized-we-robertson-davies.png)
What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.
![Whether you are really right or not doesn't matter; it's the belief that counts. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/46/19346A-whether-you-are-really-right-or-not-doesnt-matter-its-robertson-davies.png)
Whether you are really right or not doesn't matter; it's the belief that counts.
![Their very conservatism is secondhand, and they don't know what they are conserving. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/84/52684A-their-very-conservatism-is-secondhand-and-they-dont-know-what-robertson-davies.png)
Their very conservatism is secondhand, and they don't know what they are conserving.
![The dog is a Yes-animal, very popular with people who can't afford to keep a Yes-man. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/48/29748A-the-dog-is-a-yes-animal-very-popular-with-people-robertson-davies.png)
The dog is a Yes-animal, very popular with people who can't afford to keep a Yes-man.
![If we seek the pleasures of love, passion should be occasional, and common sense continual. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/65/17665A-if-we-seek-the-pleasures-of-love-passion-should-be-robertson-davies.png)
If we seek the pleasures of love, passion should be occasional, and common sense continual.
![Ah that blessed degree that stamps us for life as creatures of guaranteed intellectual worth. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/68/29268A-ah-that-blessed-degree-that-stamps-us-life-as-creatures-robertson-davies.png)
Ah that blessed degree that stamps us for life as creatures of guaranteed intellectual worth.
![As I once said of George Bernard Shaw, he bloomed at twenty, but nobody smelled him till he was forty. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/84/42684A-as-i-once-said-of-george-bernard-shaw-he-bloomed-robertson-davies.png)
As I once said of George Bernard Shaw, he bloomed at twenty, but nobody smelled him till he was forty.
![Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground—not a flying carpet to set you free from probability. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/27/12827A-imagination-is-a-good-horse-to-carry-you-over-ground-robertson-davies.png)
Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground—not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.
![Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/59/32459A-happiness-is-always-a-by-product-it-is-probably-matter-robertson-davies.png)
Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular.
![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. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/00/26800A-to-ask-an-author-who-hopes-be-serious-writer-if-robertson-davies.png)
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.
![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 quote.](/img/q/06/41506A-if-you-are-not-happy-you-had-better-stop-worrying-robertson-davies.png)
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.
![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 quote.](/img/q/56/35356A-every-man-is-wise-when-attacked-by-mad-dog-fewer-robertson-davies.png)
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.
![If a man wants to be of the greatest possible value to his fellow-creatures, let him begin the long, solitary process of perfecting himself. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/88/27888A-if-a-man-wants-to-be-greatest-possible-value-his-robertson-davies.png)
If a man wants to be of the greatest possible value to his fellow-creatures, let him begin the long, solitary process of perfecting himself.
![If you bring curiosity to your work it will cease to be merely a job and become a door through which you enter the best that life has to give you. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/71/28971A-if-you-bring-curiosity-to-your-work-it-will-cease-robertson-davies.png)
If you bring curiosity to your work it will cease to be merely a job and become a door through which you enter the best that life has to give you.
![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. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/56/26756A-i-think-of-an-author-as-somebody-who-goes-into-robertson-davies.png)
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.
![Trollope is endlessly gripping, though it's rather crunchy granola: you chomp your way resolutely through it, and it's worth it because the story is so good. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/85/42685A-trollope-is-endlessly-gripping-though-its-rather-crunchy-granola-you-robertson-davies.png)
Trollope is endlessly gripping, though it's rather crunchy granola: you chomp your way resolutely through it, and it's worth it because the story is so good.
![To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels; dangerous, for the same reason. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/92/38492A-to-be-apt-in-quotation-is-splendid-dangerous-gift-splendid-robertson-davies.png)
To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels; dangerous, for the same reason.
![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 quote.](/img/q/20/14520A-a-truly-great-book-should-be-read-youth-again-maturity-robertson-davies.png)
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.
![When you're a novelist, you're writing a play but you're acting all the parts, you're controlling the lights and the scenery and the whole business, and it's your show. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/32/36632A-when-youre-a-novelist-youre-writing-play-but-youre-acting-robertson-davies.png)
When you're a novelist, you're writing a play but you're acting all the parts, you're controlling the lights and the scenery and the whole business, and it's your show.
![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 quote.](/img/q/87/27587A-i-see-canada-as-a-country-torn-between-very-northern-robertson-davies.png)
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.
![The result of a single action may spread like the circles that expand when a stone is thrown into a pond, until they touch places and people unguessed at by the person who threw the stone. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/47/25147A-the-result-of-a-single-action-may-spread-like-circles-robertson-davies.png)
The result of a single action may spread like the circles that expand when a stone is thrown into a pond, until they touch places and people unguessed at by the person who threw the stone.
![An author is like a horse pulling a coal-cart down an icy hill; he ought to stop, but when he reflects that it would probably kill him to try, he goes right on, neighing and rolling his eyes. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/57/26757A-an-author-is-like-a-horse-pulling-coal-cart-down-robertson-davies.png)
An author is like a horse pulling a coal-cart down an icy hill; he ought to stop, but when he reflects that it would probably kill him to try, he goes right on, neighing and rolling his eyes.
![If you're a writer, a real writer, you're a descendant of those medieval storytellers who used to go into the square of a town and spread a little mat on the ground and sit on it and beat on a bowl and say, "If you give me a copper coin I will tell you a golden tale." - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/23/40123A-if-youre-a-writer-a-real-writer-youre-descendant-those-robertson-davies.png)
If you're a writer, a real writer, you're a descendant of those medieval storytellers who used to go into the square of a town and spread a little mat on the ground and sit on it and beat on a bowl and say, "If you give me a copper coin I will tell you a golden tale."
![Pornography is a cheat. It is an attempt to provide sexual experience by secondhand means. Now sex is a thing which has to be experienced firsthand, if you are really going to understand it, and 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. It's not the same thing. - Robertson Davies quote.](/img/q/19/37819A-pornography-is-a-cheat-it-is-attempt-provide-sexual-experience-robertson-davies.png)
Pornography is a cheat. It is an attempt to provide sexual experience by secondhand means. Now sex is a thing which has to be experienced firsthand, if you are really going to understand it, and 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. It's not the same thing.