188 quotes
When John Ryder, for instance, writes "I utter valediction to the author of my being," he means simply that he said goodbye to his mother.
How to Be a Collector (1995)
I am not even prepared to meet Professor Einstein or Bertrand Russell; why should I vaingloriously assume that God would find me interesting?
The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)
Men of action, I notice, are rarely humble, even in situations where action of any kind is a great mistake, and masterly inaction is called for.
The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)
The life of Man is a struggle with Nature and a struggle with the Machine; when Nature and the Machine link forces against him, Man hasn't a chance.
The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks (1947)
The mind of man, though perhaps the most splendid achievement of evolution, is not, surely, that answer to every problem of the universe. Hamlet suffers, but the Gravediggers go right on with their silly quibbles.
Opera and Humour (1991)
Well, I haven't got wealth or fame, but I really think I might say, and I know how dangerous it is to say this — I think I have happiness.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
In too many modern churches there is no emphasis on theology at all. There is a kind of justification by works or by keeping up with modern trends — anything that will drag in a few more people.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Art is always at peril in universities, where there are so many people, young and old, who love art less than argument, and dote upon a text that provides the nutritious pemmican on which scholars love to chew.
The Cunning Man (1994)
Happiness is a by-product. It is not a primary product of life. It is a thing which you suddenly realize you have because you're so delighted to be doing something which perhaps has nothing whatever to do with happiness.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Celtic civilization was tribal, but by no means savage or uncultivated. People who regarded the theft of a harp from a bard as a crime second only to an attack on the tribal chieftain cannot be regarded as wanting in cultivated feeling.
Scottish Folklore and Opera (1992)
Of course, fairies are all imported in North America. We have no native fairies. The Little People do not long survive importation — unless they go to California and grow large and beautiful, but haven't much flavour, like the fruit and the film stars.
Scottish Folklore and Opera (1992)
I spent a busy day today, but got little done. This is because I am at last becoming perfect in the art of seeming busy, even when very little is going on in my head or under my hands. This is an art which every man learns, if he does not intend to work himself to death.
The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)
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.
Opera and Humour (1991)
One receives the impression from his writings that he made it his plan to read any book whatever that no one else can bear to read.
A Voice from the Attic (1960)
If you can, and if you are a playgoer and a filmgoer, you should be able to find voices for all the characters in the books you read.
A Voice from the Attic (1960)
But the temptation to wallow and disport myself in the purple prose of the doting collector is strong, and it will need all my vigilance to resist it.
A Voice from the Attic (1960)
It would be nice to be unfailingly, perpetually, remorselessly funny, day in and day out, year in and year out until somebody murdered you, now wouldn't it?
The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks (1947)
The really great eccentrics are all inimitable; they are not possessed by a single oddity; they are, in their deepest selves, unlike the generality of mankind.
Lewis Carroll in the Theatre (1994)
The best among our writers are doing their accustomed work of mirroring what is deep in the spirit of our time; if chaos appears in those mirrors, we must have faith that in the future, as always in the past, that chaos will slowly reveal itself as a new aspect of order.
A Voice from the Attic (1960)
If you attack stupidity, you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life, and you will make small progress against it.
The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)