John Buchan

Civilisation is a conspiracy.

— John Buchan

The book trade is a spiritual barometer of a nations well-being.

— John Buchan

The Church of Christ is an anvil which has worn out many hammers. Our opponents may boast of their strength, but they…

— John Buchan

Any large-scale organization must lose some of the merits of its rudimentary beginnings. Quantity will have a coarsening effect on quality.

— John Buchan

“My thoughts hovered over all varieties of mortal edible, and finally settled on a porterhouse steak and a quart of bitter with…

— John Buchan

I would have been content with any job however thankless, in any quarter however remote, if I had a chance of making…

— John Buchan

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

— John Buchan

That is the supreme value of history. The study of it is the best guarantee against repeating it.

— John Buchan

It was foreordained that I should go alone to Umvelos', and in the promptings of my own infallible heart I believed I…

— John Buchan

“If you’re going to be killed you invent some kind of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive you…

— John Buchan

“But I thought you were dead,’ I put in. ‘Mors janua vitae,’ he smiled.”

— John Buchan

“But the big courage is the cold-blooded kind, the kind that never lets go even when you're feeling empty inside, and your…

— John Buchan

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

— John Buchan

And where the deepest current crawls/ Like thistledown the dainty fly falls./ Then from the depths a silver gleam/ Quick flashes, like…

— John Buchan

“It was a soft breathless June morning, with a promise of sultriness later...”

— John Buchan

“This preoccupation with the classics was the happiest thing that could have befallen me. It gave me a standard of values. To…

— John Buchan

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

— John Buchan

I once played the chief part in a rather exciting business without ever once budging from London . And the joke of…

— John Buchan

“I get into a tearing passion about something I know very little about, and when I learn more my passion ebbs away.”

— John Buchan

Young girls passed me with romance still in their eyes, and others, a little older, with the romance dead.

— John Buchan

“An old woman with a mutch sat in an arm-chair behind the counter. She looked up at me over her spectacles and…

— John Buchan

"What would you call the highest happiness, Lewie?" he asked. "The sense of competence," was the answer, given without hesitation.

— John Buchan

“We’ve exalted our womenfolk into little tin gods, and at the same time left them out of the real business of life.”

— John Buchan

I would be content with any job, however thankless, in any quarter, however remote, if I had the chance of making a…

— John Buchan

There may be peace without joy, and joy without peace, but the two combined make happiness.

— John Buchan