John Buchan

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The best prayers have often more groans than words.

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

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