Scottish novelist & politician (1875-1940)
The world is full of pleasant things, but the pleasantest of all is a warm hearth and a comfortable home.
JOHN BUCHAN
A Lodge in the Wilderness
The secret of life is to find out what one really wants.
JOHN BUCHAN
A Lodge in the Wilderness
Civilisation is a conspiracy. What value would your police be if every criminal could find a sanctuary across the Channel, or your law courts, if no other tribunal recognised their decisions? Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences. And it will succeed till the day comes when there is another compact to strip them bare.
JOHN BUCHAN
The Power-House
The spark once transmitted may smoulder for generations under ashes, but the appointed time will come, and it will flare up to warm the world. God never allows waste. And we fools rub our eyes and wonder, when we see genius come out of the gutter. It didn't begin there. We tell ourselves that Shakespeare was the son of a woolpedlar, and Napoleon of a farmer, and Luther of a peasant, and we hold up our hands at the marvel. But who knows what kings and prophets they had in their ancestry!
JOHN BUCHAN
prologue, The Path of the King
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.
JOHN BUCHAN
Salute to Adventurers
The true mark of a leader is not how many followers he has, but how he inspires them to greatness.
JOHN BUCHAN
The House of the Four Winds
It is better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.
JOHN BUCHAN
Huntingtower
Loyalty and religion have many meanings, and self-interest is a skilled interpreter.
JOHN BUCHAN
Midwinter
The true test of a man's character is not how much he has, but how much he is willing to give.
JOHN BUCHAN
Huntingtower
Truth's like a dollar-piece, it's got two sides, and both are wanted to make it good currency.
JOHN BUCHAN
The Path of the King
The world is full of mysteries, and the greatest mystery of all is the human heart.
JOHN BUCHAN
Midwinter
What do we mean by spiritual development? Surely, the broadening and deepening of the mind till it regards the world in its true perspective, and the strengthening of the character so that the will is a tempered and unerring weapon in the charge of a man's soul. And this end is to be achieved only by the exercise of the mind upon the largest possible manifold of experience, and by the conflict of character with the alien forces of the world.
JOHN BUCHAN
A Lodge in the Wilderness
Happiness lies only in a divine unrest; and if you are lapped in comfort you stagnate and miss it.
JOHN BUCHAN
A Lodge in the Wilderness
I always try to suit my clothes to my company. It is the only way to be inconspicuous.
JOHN BUCHAN
prologue, The House of the Four Winds
There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness.
JOHN BUCHAN
Pilgrim's Way
The true test of a man's character is how he behaves when no one is watching.
JOHN BUCHAN
Midwinter
The greatest victory is not that which is won on the battlefield, but that which is won over oneself.
JOHN BUCHAN
The Path of the King
A fool tries to look different: a clever man looks the same and is different.
JOHN BUCHAN
The 39 Steps
There is no merit in an empire as such. Extension in space does not necessarily mean spiritual advancement. The small community is easier to govern, and, it may well be, more pleasant to live in. If its opportunities are limited its perils are also circumscribed.
JOHN BUCHAN
Augustus
A man's inhumanity to man is only surpassed by his ignorance of his fellow man.
JOHN BUCHAN
A Lodge in the Wilderness