101 Quotes by John Buchan

"It is a melancholy fact which exponents of democracy must face that, while all men may be on a level in the eyes of the State, they will continue in fact to be preposterously unequal."

"He had just the same narrow head, and stubborn mouth, and honest, quick-tempered eyes. It is the type that makes dashing regimental officers, and earns V.C.’s, and gets done in wholesale. I was never that kind. I belonged to the school of the cunning cowards."

"I have to consider the honour of my house.' 'Honour?' Jaikie queried. 'Yes, honour,' said Ashie severely. 'Have you anything to say against it?' 'N-o-o. But it’s an awkward word and apt to obscure reason.' 'It is a very real thing, which you English do not understand.' 'We understand it well enough, but we are shy of talking about it."

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

"The secret belongs only to the Maker of good and faithful dogs."

"All this was very loose guessing, and I don't pretend it was ingenious or scientific. I wasn't any kind of Sherlock Holmes. But I have always fancied I had a kind of instinct about questions like this. I don't know if I can explain myself, but I used to use my brains as far as they went, and after they came to a blank wall I guessed, and I usually found my guesses pretty right."

"By God!' he whispered, drawing his breath in sharply, 'it is all pure Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle."

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."

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

"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."