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It is in this matter that I fall foul of so many American writers on writing; they seem to think that writing is a confidence game by means of which the author cajoles a restless, dull-witted, shallow audience into hearing his point of view. Such an attitude is base, and can only beget base prose.

— Robertson Davies Elements of Style (1959)

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More quotes by Robertson Davies

Aristocrats need not be rich, but they must be free, and in the modern world freedom grows rarer the more we prate about it.

Osbert Sitwell (1945)

Sometimes there was a serious article on a hot topic, and I especially remember one by a bishop headed "Is Nudity Salacious?"

A Rake at Reading (1980)

One might think, to hear some people talk, that this had been a particularly fine summer. From their point of view, I suppose, it has.

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 Dangerous Jewels (1960)

The pleasures of love are for those who are hopelessly addicted to another living creature. The reasons for such addiction are so many that I suspect they are never the same in any two cases.

The Pleasures of Love (1961)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robertson Davies (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.