Quotes from buchan john iii

I wondered whether the scientific modern brain could not get to the stage of realising that Space is not an empty homogeneous medium, but full of intricate differences, intelligible and real, though not with our common reality.

There is no merit in an empire as such. Extension in space does not necessarily mean spiritual advancement. The small community is easier to govern, and, it may well be, more pleasant to live in. If its opportunities are limited its perils are also circumscribed.

The greatest victory is not that which is won on the battlefield, but that which is won over oneself.

I always try to suit my clothes to my company. It is the only way to be inconspicuous.

Honest intention will not cure faulty practice.

There was never an army that did not accuse its enemies of barbarity.

The true test of a man's worth is not what he achieves in life, but what he overcomes.

It was a very happy time, but like all happy times it had no landmarks.

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

Suppose that the links in the cordon of civilisation were neutralised by other links in a far more potent chain. The earth is seething with incoherent power and unorganised intelligence.

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.

Without humour you cannot run a sweetie-shop, let alone a nation.

A falsehood, which may be pardoned if it is to save another, is black sin if used by a coward to save himself.

All life is a gamble, and every man must choose his own risks.

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.

It's the Idea that wins every time -- the Idea with brains and guts behind it.

Their politics are an opiate to prevent folk thinking.