“Foolish people laugh at those readers a century ago who wept over the novels of Dickens.”

— Robertson Davies, A Voice from the Attic (1960)

About Robertson Davies

1913 – 1995

Canadian novelist, playwright and critic.

“Work is a dangerous and destructive drug, and should be called by its right name, which is Fatigue.”

“Our age has robbed millions of the simplicity of ignorance, and has so far failed to lift them to the simplicity of wisdom.”

“The past is only partly irrecoverable.”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.”

“Silence is as full of potential wisdom and wit as the unshown marble of great sculpture.”

“Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

“One day I would be a better hand at the game. One day I would learn how to laugh.”

“Stupid people, people who do not know how to laugh, are always pompous and self-conceited.”