Leaven of Malice Quotes

“But in every church there are people who, for reasons which seem sufficient to them, do not approve of their pastor and seek to harry him and bully him into some condition pleasing to themselves. The democracy which the Reformation brought into the Christian Church rages in their bosoms like a fire; they would deny that they regard their clergyman as their spiritual hired hand, whom they boss and oversee for his own good, but that is certainly the impression they give to observers.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“Life, as he conceived of it, was a long decline from a glorious past, and if a reader approaches a newspaper in that spirit, he can find much to confirm him in his belief, particularly if he has never examined any short period of the past in day-to-day detail.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“He blew his nose resoundingly. "B natural," said he, "my cold drops more than a full tone every hour. Obviously I am dying.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“She’s too much like him in temperament. Married couples should complement each other, and not merely double their losses. There’s much to be said for the square peg in the round hole, as the Cubist told the Vorticist.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“It is doubtful if, at any time in her life, anyone had sung directly at Miss Pottinger, and she was flustered in a region of her being from which she had had no messages for many years.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“If I tarted up in a nice suit and a clean collar, I could spend hours and hours every week jawing to Rotary Clubs about what fine music is and how I am just as good as they are. I'm not as good as they are, praise be God! I am a honest citizen, I am not fit to black their boots.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“I've mentioned him! What an understatement! He obsesses me. He is my incubus - my succubus. He is becoming part of the fabric of my being. I expect that within ten years there will be more of Heavysege in me than the original material. Do you realize what Heavysege is? He is my path to fame, my immortality and the tomb of my youth. I wish I'd never heard of him.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“Lots of people do," said Cobbler, "but don’t delude yourself. You’re not the suicidal type."

"Why not?"

"You’re too gabby. People who talk a lot about their troubles never commit suicide; talk’s the greatest safety-valve there is.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“What would you do if you were me?" said Solly.

"What would I do in your place?"

"No, no; you’d do something fantastic and get farther into the soup. I want to know what you would do if you were intelligent but prudent. What would you do if you were me?”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“He fetched a large and unpleasant-looking rag from under his pillow and blew his nose loud and long. "E flat," said he, when he had finished. "Funny, I never seem to blow twice on the same note. You’d think that the nose, under equal pressure, and all that, would behave predictably, but it doesn’t. See this?" He held out the rag. "Piece of an old bedsheet; never blow your nose on paper, Bridgetower. Save old bedsheets for when you have a cold. They’re the only comfort in a really bad cold, and the only way of reckoning its virulence. I consider this to be a two-sheet cold.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“Secondrateness comes out of his pores like a fog.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“It was plain that he had had a lot of training, for nobody ever sang so by the light of Nature.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice

“I suppose you really like them dirty," said Miss Vyner. "That’s it. Dirty and full of divine mystery," said Cobbler, rolling his eyes and kissing his fingers. “Sheer connoisseurship, I confess, but I’ve always preferred a bit of ripened cheese to a scientifically packaged breakfast food.”
― Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice