“The inert mind is a greater danger than the inert body, for it overlays and stifles the desire to live.”

— Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man (1994)

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 better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.”

“The universe is flux, life is opinion.”

“We are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace.”

“When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.”

“The heart of life is a sphere quiet and serene, and the star that shines therein is fixed for evermore.”

“The mind weighs and measures but it is the spirit that reaches the heart of life and embraces the secret.”