John Buchan
John Buchan
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, GCMG, GCVO, CH, PCwas a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth26 August 1875
religious self political
The world was arrogant and self-satisfied, but behind all this confidence there was an uneasy sense of impending disaster. The old creeds, both religious and political , were largely in the process of dissolution, but we did not realise the fact , and therefore did not look for new foundations.
clothes trying way
I always try to suit my clothes to my company. It is the only way to be inconspicuous.
wise growing-up men
Wise men never grow up; indeed, they grow younger, for they lose the appalling worldly wisdom of youth.
men yawning might
It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.
happiness answers given
What would you call the highest happiness? Wratislaw was asked. The sense of competence, was the answer, given without hesitation.
wall live-life thinking
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.
believe normal common
I believe everything out of the common. The only thing to distrust is the normal.
hate men knives
I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed, and that long knife would not be the end of Scudder if I could play the game in his place.
civilization modern-life quiet
Civilization is a conspiracy. Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences.
men definitions snob
The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.
mother wife mankind
Bethink you of the blessedness. Every wife is like the Mother of God and has the hope of bearing a saviour of mankind.
clever men trying
A fool tries to look different: a clever man looks the same and is different.
past giving darkness
History gives us a kind of chart, and we dare not surrender even a small rushlight in the darkness. The hasty reformer who does not remember the past will find himself condemned to repeat it.
education mind kind
To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.