Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.
Robertson DaviesRead
I never heard of anyone who was really literate or who ever really loved books who wanted to suppress any of them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that true literacy and love for books leads to a desire for openness, not suppression.
Robertson Davies expresses the belief that those who are genuinely literate and have a deep appreciation for literature will not seek to censor or suppress any books. True love for books fosters a spirit of inclusivity and a recognition of the diverse perspectives that literature can offer, suggesting that it is ignorance or insecurity that leads to attempts at suppression.
Themes
LiteracyBooksSuppressLiteratureFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about censorship in schools, this quote can highlight the importance of exposing students to a wide range of literature.
More from Robertson Davies
All quotes βPessimism 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Robertson DaviesRead
The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.
Robertson DaviesRead
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