If I had my way books would not be written in English, but in an exceedingly difficult secret language that only skilled professional readers and story-tellers could interpret. Then people like you would have to go to public halls and…

Quote by Robertson Davies

Topics: Books Quotes

The love that dare not speak its name has become the love that won't shut...

The love that dare not speak its name has become the love that won't shut...

Many a promising career has been wrecked by marrying the wrong sort of woman. The...

Many a promising career has been wrecked by marrying the wrong sort of woman. The...

The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also...

The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also...

To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with...

To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with...

We wanted to meet him, for though we were neither of us naive people we...

We wanted to meet him, for though we were neither of us naive people we...

Inactivity and deprivation of all accustomed stimulus is not rest; it is a preparation for...

Inactivity and deprivation of all accustomed stimulus is not rest; it is a preparation for...

A Librettist is a mere drudge in the world of opera.

A Librettist is a mere drudge in the world of opera.

No people in the world can make you feel so small as the English.

No people in the world can make you feel so small as the English.

One can always tell it's summer when one sees school teachers hanging about the streets...

One can always tell it's summer when one sees school teachers hanging about the streets...

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more...

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more...

May I make a suggestion, hoping it is not an impertinence? Write it down: write...

May I make a suggestion, hoping it is not an impertinence? Write it down: write...

Students today are a pretty solemn lot. One of the really notable achievements of the...

Students today are a pretty solemn lot. One of the really notable achievements of the...

The people who are always monkeying with these great books to make them fully (comprehensible)...

The people who are always monkeying with these great books to make them fully (comprehensible)...

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.

You never see what you want to see, forever playing to the gallery.

You never see what you want to see, forever playing to the gallery.

The people who fear humor - and there are many -are suspicious of its power...

The people who fear humor - and there are many -are suspicious of its power...

The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said,...

The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said,...

Literary critics, however, frequently suffer from a curious belief that every author longs to extend...

Literary critics, however, frequently suffer from a curious belief that every author longs to extend...

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the...

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the...

The most noble criticism is that in which the critic is not the antagonist so...

The most noble criticism is that in which the critic is not the antagonist so...

For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of...

For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of...

If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect,...

If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect,...