24 quotes
Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
A thing to have a mystique must necessarily have many aspects, many corridors, many avenues, many things that open up.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Now, very few [physicians] are men of science in any very serious sense; they're men of technique.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Women tell men things that men are not very likely to find out for themselves.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
After all, we are human beings, and not creatures of infinite possibilities.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
People are not saints just because they haven't got much money or education.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
The word "religion" just means "law," the consideration of law and consequence. That's what interests me: what happens as a result of what people do.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
I think possibly the final sophistication is the recovery of innocence. Where you really get where you take things rather simply.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Happiness is a very deep and dispersed state. It's not a kind of excitement.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
A sense of wonder is in itself a religious feeling. But in so many people the sense of wonder gets lost. It gets scarred over.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Let people alone. Let them find their way. Let them find their level and you may sometimes be delighted and astonished at the extraordinary high level to which they'll rise if they're let alone.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
People are afraid to be happy.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
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)
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)
I think we should see whether we are wise trying to educate everybody to a high standard the way we are trying to do now. There has to be a high level of education so everybody is literate, but whether university education is necessary for everyone is open to question.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
They [say] everybody's creative. Well, everybody is. But any real creativity has to rest on a basis of an acquired technique and an acquired knowledge; you can't be creative in a void, or you just get a mess.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Marriage is a framework to preserve friendship. It is valuable because it gives much more room to develop than just living together. It provides a base from which a person can work at understanding himself and another person.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
I think we're living in an age which despises humanity and despises bravery and doesn't need bravery because modern warfare has rather gone beyond bravery. It is a kind of warfare where people are fighting enemies they never see, killing people of whom they know nothing.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
Humour very often consists of shrewd perceptions about people. It's usually fun at someone's expense. Nowadays if you're funny at anybody's expense they run to the UN and say, "I must have an ombudsman to protect me." You hardly dare have a shrewd perception about anybody.
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)