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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.

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
Leader
Goal
Elicit
Business
Task
Inspirational
Tasks
People
Greatness
Leadership
Motivational
Already

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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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[W]ithout humour you cannot run a sweetie-shop, let alone a nation.
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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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The book trade is a spiritual barometer of a nations well-being.
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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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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 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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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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An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.
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I once played the chief part in a rather exciting business without ever once budging from London . And the joke of it was that the man who went out to look for adventure only saw a bit of the game, and I who sat in my chambers saw it all and pulled the strings. 'They also serve who only stand and wait,' you know.
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Civilization is a conspiracy. Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences.
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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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What would you call the highest happiness, Lewie? he asked. The sense of competence, was the answer, given without hesitation.
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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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It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.
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There may be peace without joy, and joy without peace, but the two combined make happiness.
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He disliked emotion, not because he felt lightly, but because he felt deeply.
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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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London is like the tropical bush -- if you don't exercise constant care the jungle, in the shape of the slums, will break in.
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