Any large-scale organization must lose some of the merits of its rudimentary beginnings. Quantity will have a coarsening effect on quality. John Buchan More Quotes by John Buchan More Quotes From John Buchan Young girls passed me with romance still in their eyes, and others, a little older, with the romance dead. John Buchan romance girl eye Bethink you of the blessedness. Every wife is like the Mother of God and has the hope of bearing a saviour of mankind. John Buchan mankind wife mother Leadership is only courage and wisdom, and a great carefulness of self. John Buchan carefulness self war It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning. John Buchan albania yawning men Pessimism is the one ism which kills the soul. John Buchan isms pessimism soul It was foreordained that I should go alone to Umvelos', and in the promptings of my own infallible heart I believed I saw the workings of Omnipotence. Such is our moral arrogance, and yet without such a belief I think that mankind would have ever been content to bide sluggishly at home. John Buchan home heart thinking 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. John Buchan games adventure men A fool tries to look different: a clever man looks the same and is different. John Buchan clever trying men In our modern world we have seen inaugurated the reign of a dull bourgeois rationalism, which finds some inadequate reason for all things in heaven and earth and makes a god of its own infallibility. John Buchan earth heaven world It would scarcely be destruction," he replied gently. "Let us call it iconoclasm, the swallowing of formulas, which has always had its full retinue of idealists. And you do not want a Napoleon . All that is needed is direction, which could be given by men of far lower gifts than a Bonaparte. In a word, you want a Power-House, and then the age of miracles will begin. John Buchan miracle house men I was a peaceful sedentary man, a lover of a quiet life, with no appetite for perils and commotions. But I was beginning to realise that I was very obstinate. John Buchan peaceful lovers men I always try to suit my clothes to my company. It is the only way to be inconspicuous. John Buchan clothes trying way 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. John Buchan political religious self If those extra-social brains are so potent, why after all do they effect so little? A dull police-officer, with the machine behind him, can afford to laugh at most experiments in anarchy. John Buchan police brain laughing The sea has formed the English character and the essential England is to be found in those who follow it. From blue waters they have learned mercifulness, and they have also learned - in the grimmest of schools - precision and resolution. The sea endures no makeshifts. If a thing is not exactly right it will be vastly wrong. John Buchan blue character school 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. John Buchan matter brain hands We can pay our debt to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves. John Buchan The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. John Buchan task greatness leadership humanity Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God. John Buchan soul prayer god heart The best prayers have often more groans than words. John Buchan prayers words more best
