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

John Buchan

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John Buchan
Age: 64 †
Born: 1875
Born: August 26
Died: 1940
Died: February 11
Barrister
Biographer
Former Governor General Of Canada
Journalist
Military Personnel
Novelist
Poet
Politician
Science Fiction Writer
Perth
Scotland
John Buchan
1st Baron Tweedsmuir
Lord Tweedsmuir
Civilization
Pretences
Quiet
Pretence
Comfortable
Compact
Modern
Modernism
Keep
Folk
Life
Conspiracy
Folks
Silent

More quotes by John Buchan

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You see only the productions of second-rate folk who are in a hurry to get wealth and fame. The true knowledge, the deadly knowledge, is still kept secret. But, believe me, my friend, it is there.
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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.
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Most true points are fine points. There never was a dispute between mortals where both sides hadn't a bit of right.
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There may be peace without joy, and joy without peace, but the two combined make happiness.
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Our sufferings have taught us that no nation is sufficient unto itself, and that our prosperity depends in the long run, not upon the failures of our neighbors but their successes.
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Leadership is only courage and wisdom, and a great carefulness of self.
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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.
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The vows we take in the holy place bind us till we are purged of them at Inanda's Kraal. Till then no blood must be shed and no flesh eaten. It was the fashion of our forefathers.
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I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest.
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The book trade is a spiritual barometer of a nations well-being.
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Wise men never grow up indeed, they grow younger, for they lose the appalling worldly wisdom of youth.
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Any large-scale organization must lose some of the merits of its rudimentary beginnings. Quantity will have a coarsening effect on quality.
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That is the supreme value of history. The study of it is the best guarantee against repeating it.
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We can pay our debts to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves.
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Civilisation needs more than the law to hold it together. You see, all mankind are not equally willing to accept as divine justice what is called human law.
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Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.
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The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.
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The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.
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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.
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I would have been content with any job however thankless, in any quarter however remote, if I had a chance of making a corner of the desert blossom and the solitary place glad.
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