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"Literary critics, however, frequently suffer from a curious belief that every author longs to extend the boundaries of literary art, wants to explore new dimensions of the human spirit, and if he doesn't, he should be ashamed of himself."
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"Is art really the priesthood that demands the pure in heart who belong to it wholly?"
"Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness."
"Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to participate."
"I'm very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It's the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange."
Explore more quotes by Robertson Davies
"I never heard of anyone who was really literate or who ever really loved books who wanted to suppress any of them."
"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."
"Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it."
"The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also his most difficult task."
"The drama may be called that part of theatrical art which lends itself most readily to intellectual discussion: what is left is theater."
"Do not suppose, however, that I intend to urge a diet of classics on anybody. I have seen such diets at work. I have known people who have actually read all, or almost all, the guaranteed Hundred Best Books. God save us from reading nothing but the best."
"There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity."
"May I make a suggestion, hoping it is not an impertinence? Write it down: write down what you feel. It is sometimes a wonderful help in misery."
"Students today are a pretty solemn lot. One of the really notable achievements of the twentieth century has been to make the young old before their time."
"A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight."
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