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Robertson Davies

Robertson Davies Quotes

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Famous Robertson Davies Quotes

“I think a lot of people have unreasonable expectations because they never stop to consider what life actually has to offer them. They're always looking for some great epiphany from the skies. They never stop to consider the fact which human beings find hardest to recognize: "Maybe I'm not worthy of an epiphany.”

PeopleThinkingHumansFactsHuman BeingsSkyOffersExpectationsWorthyHardestUnreasonableEpiphanyNot Worthy
Book:Conversations with Robertson Davies
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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.”

ThinkingWritingMeanMatterSeemsFallGamesViewsAttitudeAudienceHearingPoint Of ViewDullProseShallowRestlessFoulBegetsWriting By WritersAmerican Writer
Author:Robertson Davies
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“The first principle, when you don't know anything about the subject of a thesis, is to let the candidate talk, nodding now and then with an ambiguous smile. He thinks you know, and are counting his mistakes, and it unnerves him... the second principle of conducting an oral, ... is to pretend ignorance, and ask for explanations of very simple points. Of course your ignorance is real, but the examinee thinks you are being subtle, and that he is making an ass of himself, and this rattles him.”

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Author:Robertson Davies
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“I am constantly astonished by the people, otherwise intelligent, who think that anything so complex and delicate as a marriage can be left to take care of itself. One sees them fussing about all sorts of lesser concerns, apparently unaware that side by side with them often in the same bed a human creature is perishing from lack of affection, of emotional malnutrition.”

PeopleThinkingHumansCareLeftSidesEmotionalBedCreaturesConcernIntelligentComplexesAffectionTake CareDelicateMalnutritionPerishingFussing
Author:Robertson Davies
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“The truth is that art does not teach; it makes you feel, and any teaching that may arise from the feeling is an extra, and must not be stressed too much. In the modern world, and in Canada as much as anywhere, we are obsessed with the notion that to think is the highest achievement of mankind, but we neglect the fact that thought untouched by feeling is thin, delusive, treacherous stuff.”

ThinkingWorldFeelsMayDoeArtFactsFeelingsStuffTeachToo MuchTeachingModernMankindTruth IsAchievementHighestNotionAriseObsessedExtrasCanadaNeglectModern WorldStressedTreacherous
Book:Fortune, My Foe and Eros at Breakfast
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“I don't think I would ever write a book with what anybody could call pornography in it, because I feel that 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. Sex is primarily a question of relationships. Pornography is a do-it-yourself kit--a twenty-second best.”

IfsThinkingFeelsWritingTryingMeanBookSexTwentiesBarsCheatPornographySymphonyDo It YourselfSecond Best
Author:Robertson Davies
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“The attributes of God have been carefully explored. But the Devil's attributes have been left vague. I think I've found one of them. It is he who puts the prices on things." "Doesn't God put a price on things?" "No. One of his attributes is magnanimity. But the Devil is a setter of prices, and a usurer, as well. You buy from him at an agreed price, but the payments are all on time, and the interest is charged on the whole of the principal, right up to the last payment, however much of the principal you think you have paid off in the meantime.”

ThinkingWellsHas BeensWholeLastsFoundLeftInterestDevilPaidAttributesPrincipalVaguePaymentMagnanimityPaid OffAttributes Of God
Author:Robertson Davies
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“We tend to think human knowledge as progressive; because we know more and more, our parents and grandparents are back numbers. But a contrary theory is possible - that we simply recognize different things at different times and in different ways.”

ThinkingKnowsWayHumansDifferentParentNumbersTheoryContraryDifferent WaysDifferent ThingsProgressiveGrandparentDifferent TimesHuman KnowledgeParents And Grandparents
Book:The Cornish Trilogy
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“The whole world is burdened with young fogies. Old men with ossified minds are easily dealt with. But men who look young, act young, and everlastingly harp on the fact they are young, but who nevertheless think and act with a degree of caution which would be excessive in their grandfathers, are the curses of the world.”

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Author:Robertson Davies
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