John Buchan Quotes

1875–1940 Scotland

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and politician who was Governor-General of Canada from 1935 to 1940.

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Also known as: Buchan, John, John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

Random John Buchan quote

118 quotes

If the Kirk confines human nature too strictly, it will break out in secret ways, for men and women are born into a terrestrial world, though they have hopes of Heaven.

Witch Wood (1927)

There comes a time to everyone when the world narrows for him to a strait alley, with Death at the end of it, and all his thoughts are fixed on that waiting enemy of mankind.

Salute to Adventurers (1915)

For all we know, to a greater intelligence than ours the top of Mont Blanc may be as crowded as Piccadilly Circus.

Space (1912)

Most true points are fine points. There never was a dispute between mortals where both sides hadn't a bit of right.

The Path of the King (1921)

Boldness, and still boldness, was the only wisdom. To be cautious was to be rash.

Midwinter (1923)

Every wife is like Mary the Blessed and may bear a saviour of mankind. The road is long, but the ways of Heaven are sure.

The Path of the King (1921)

Last night I had looked into the heart of darkness, and the sight had terrified me. What part should I play in the great purification? Most likely that of the Biblical scapegoat.

Prester John (1910)

I must get off for a bit or I'll bonnet Joggleberry or get up and propose a national monument to Guy Fawkes or something silly.

The Power-House (1916)

He would listen, he said, to a great man talking, with one eye on the cat on the rug, thinking to himself how much more the cat knew than the man.

Space (1912)

History does not repeat itself except with variations, and it is idle to look for exact parallels, but we can trace a resemblance between the conditions of his time and those of to-day.

Augustus (1937)

What can stand against loyalty? It is the faith that moves mountains.

Midwinter (1923)

If those extra-social brains are so potent, why after all do they effect so little? A dull police-officer, with the machine behind him, can afford to laugh at most experiments in anarchy.

The Power-House (1916)

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

Memory Hold-The-Door (1940)

It was a very happy time, but like all happy times it had no landmarks.

A Lodge in the Wilderness (1906)

Fortunately for mankind the brain in a life of action turns more to the matter in hand than to conjuring up the chances of the future.

Prester John (1910)

I think a man cannot strive wholeheartedly with an enemy unless he have much in common with him, and as the strife goes on he gets liker.

The Path of the King (1921)

Mrs. Brisbane-Brown was a relic, but only the unthinking would have called her a snob. For snobbishness implies some sense of insecurity, and she was perfectly secure.

Castle Gay (1930)

"You can help me to keep my head cool," was the answer. "You stand for the world of common sense which will always win in the long run. When I'm inclined to run amok you'll remind me of England. You'll lower the temperature."

The House of the Four Winds (1935)

The true achievement of Augustus is that he saved the world from disintegration.

Augustus (1937)

To be watchful, I decided, was my business. And I could not get rid of the feeling that I might soon have cause for all my vigilance.

The Power-House (1916)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John Buchan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.