and his goose would be cooked; probably suicide would be his only way out. - Robertson Davies

"You played it with great seriousness. And it is not such an uncommon game. Do you know Ibsen's poem — <blockquote>
To live it to do battle with trolls
in the vaults of the heart and brain.
To write: that is to sit
in judgement over one's self."
</blockquote>

When John Ryder, for instance, writes "I utter valediction to the author of my being," he means simply that he said goodbye to his mother.

To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels; dangerous, for the same reason.