Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human knowledge evolves, but it doesn't necessarily mean that previous generations lacked understanding; we just perceive knowledge differently over time.
Robertson Davies suggests that the perception of human knowledge as a linear progression may not be entirely accurate. Instead, he proposes that knowledge is not simply about acquiring facts or data but also about recognizing and interpreting information in various contexts throughout different times. This view implies that previous generations may have insights that are overlooked simply because our understanding has shifted rather than improved.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on history, one might use this quote to highlight how perspectives change over time.
More from Robertson Davies
All quotes →Pessimism is a very easy way out because it is a short view of life. If you look at what is happening around us today, you can't help but feel that life is a terrible complexity of problems. But if you look back a few thousand years, you realize that we have advanced fantastically. If you take a long view, I do not see how you can be pessimistic about the future of mankind.
This is one of the cruelties of the theatre of life; we all think of ourselves as stars and rarely recognize it when we are indeed mere supporting characters or even supernumeraries.
Everything matters. The Universe is approximately fifteen billion years old, and I swear that in all that time, nothing has ever happened that has not mattered, has not contributed in some way to the totality.
The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yielding and even deferential in things he doesn't consider important; in anything that touches his core he is remorseless.
The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.
Similar quotes
More-radical scholars insist that an inherent clash exists between science and our long-held conceptions about consciousness and moral agency: if you accept that our brains are a myriad of smaller components, you must reject such notions as character, praise, blame, and free will.
The longer you travel, the less you know.
I am a great believer in the simplicity of things and as you probably know I am inclined to hang on to broad & simple ideas like grim death until evidence is too strong for my tenacity.
Philosophers play with the word, like a child with a doll.... It does not mean that everything in life is relative.
Let's stop 'tolerating' or 'accepting' difference, as if we're so much better for not being different in the first place. Instead, let's celebrate difference, because in this world it takes a lot of guts to be different.
A lot of people pulled me up after 'Trainspotting' for its absence of politics, but the argument I make is that the absence of politics is political as well.