Skip to content

Quotes from The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks — Robertson Davies

1913–1995 Canada

← All quotes by Robertson Davies

7 quotes

Modern man is a debtor, or he is nothing, and money becomes more and more illusory.

The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)

A pig can learn more tricks than a dog, but has too much sense to want to do it.

The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)

I was a frequent visitor at the London Zoo; in the lion house there were always ninnies who mocked the captive lions. I often wished that the bars would turn to butter, and that the great, noble beasts would practise their particular form of wit upon the little, ignoble men.

The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)

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)

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)

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)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Robertson Davies (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.