“This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Goodnight.”

— Robertson Davies, book The Cunning Man

Part 4, section 28. The last lines of the novel.
The Cunning Man (1994)
Context: "Can you tell me the time of the last complete show?"
"You have the wrong number."
"Eh? Isn't this the Odeon?"
I decide to give a Burtonian answer.
"No, this is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Good-night."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when…" by Robertson Davies?

Robertson Davies282

Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and nov… 1913–1995

Related quotes

“But if you think that life can be prolonged by the breath of mortal fame, yet when the slow time robs you of this too, then there awaits you but a second death.”
Quodsi putatis longius vitam trahi mortalis aura nominis, cum sera vobis rapiet hoc etiam dies iam vos secunda mors manet.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480) philosopher of the early 6th century

Poem VII, lines 23-26; translation by W. V. Cooper
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book II

“When you screw up someone’s life, the least you can do is leave the person alone.”

Chetan Bhagat book Revolution 2020

Revolution 2020 (2011)

“At eighty, a man has experienced everything: love, and its ending; ambition, and its emptiness; several foolish beliefs, and their rectification. Fear of death is not very great; affections and interest concern people who have died and events of the past. In a cinema theatre when the show is continuous the spectator has the right to retain his seat as long as he wishes to do so, but actually, when the scenes he has already witnessed reappear on the screen, he leaves the theatre. Life is a continuous show. The same events take place every thirty years, and they become boring. One after another the spectators take their departure.”

André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Growing Old

“To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

"In Blackwater Woods"
American Primitive (1983)
Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

“You must be careful when you ask people whether they’re happy; it’s a question that can upset them a great deal.”

François Lelord (1953) French writer

“If you can’t give me any reason to believe you, then I have no reason to believe you. Come back when you can show me you’ve got something to consider.”

Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast

Patheos, Anti-theist Answers to Christian Questions http://www.patheos.com/blogs/reasonadvocates/2015/11/22/anti-theist-answers-to-christian-questions/ (November 22, 2015)

“When you have a sorrow that is too great it leaves no room for any other.”

Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)

“Guilt is the great weapon of the Authoritarian Left, and we must resist it when it comes to endorsing free expression.”

Jerry Coyne (1949) American biologist

" National Coalition Against Censorship and PEN defend Met’s showing of a “controversial” painting https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2017/12/09/national-coalition-against-censorship-and-pen-defend-mets-showing-of-a-controversial-painting/" December 9, 2017

“The greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes when you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes; because only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember: Others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win, unless you hate them. And then, you destroy yourself.”

Richard Nixon (1913–1994) 37th President of the United States of America

Speech to the assembled White House staff before his final departure (9 August 1974)
1970s

“In a movie, however, you might see an actor playing a character, and the actor may be a super grumpy person in real life, and that will, of course, come through. But you tend to think that’s just a character choice. But when you can see a long-running show and someone has made significant personal changes in their lives, you can really see that come across on screen.”

Andrew Francis (1985) Canadian actor

Interview With Actor Andrew Francis, “Chesapeake Shores” https://mydevotionalthoughts.net/2019/09/interview-with-actor-andrew-francis-chesapeake-shores-2.html (September 25, 2019)

“This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Goodnight.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Robertson Davies282

Related quotes

Related topics