“His failure hurt too badly for that. It was a bad equation. Best erase it and try a new one.If adults could put aside their obsessions with such firmness, the world would undoubtedly be a better place. Robertson Davies does not say that in his Deptford Trilogy ... but he strongly hints at it.”

“Mr. Robertson Davies has also suggested in his Deptford Trilogy that the same great truism which applies to writing, painting, picking horses at the track, and telling lies in a sincerely believable way, also applies to magic: some people got the knack, and some people don’t. Hilly didn’t.”

“A long time ago, the act of another put the dark in his veins, and it's been there ever since. The night he lost his true love, his heart and his brain became one, so that his heart was scheming and his brain was loving. 'That doesn't sound so bad', my dream-self thought, but suddenly I could feel it, and it was very bad indeed—for when a brain loves, it is only out of obsession, and when a heart schemes, it does not mean well.”

“For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.”

“This is bad," was all I could manage to say. "Yeah, I kind of picked up on that too.""No,I mean really bad. Like, to a level I didn't know badness could reach."Archer crouched down near the lip of the crater, the flickering blue light playing in his eyes. "It gets worse.""What,does this put also eat kittens? How much worse can it be?”

“He could see his uncles slugging each other with such force that they had to be in love. Strangers would never want to hurt each other that badly.”