John Buchan

The robe of flesh wears thin, and with the years God shines through all things.

You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilization from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet of glass. A touch here, a push there, and you bring back the reign of Saturn.

There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness.

Civilization is a conspiracy. Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences.

The best prayers have often more groans than words.

We can pay our debts to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves.

London is like the tropical bush -- if you don't exercise constant care the jungle, in the shape of the slums, will break in.

Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God.

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.

Without humility there can be no humanity.

Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown.

He disliked emotion, not because he felt lightly, but because he felt deeply.

To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.

The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.

I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest.