Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir

English Author

"We can pay our debt to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves."

"A positive thing; in Joy one does not only feel secure, but something goes out from one’s self to the universe, a warm, possessive effluence of love. "

"An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. "

"As we age, the mystery of Time more and more dominates the mind. We live less in the present, which no longer has the solidity that it had in youth; less in the future, for the future every day narrows its span. The abiding things lie in the past. "

"Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown. "

"Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown. But Joy is a positive thing; in Joy... something goes out from oneself to the universe, a warm, possessive effluence of love. There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make happiness. "

"Religion is born when we accept the ultimate frustration of mere human effort, and at the same time realize the strength which comes from union with superhuman reality. "

"The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. "

"There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness. "

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

"Without humility there can be no humanity."

"The best prayers have often more groans than words. "

"The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. "

"There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness. "

"Without humility there can be no humanity. "

"He disliked emotion, not because he felt lightly, but because he felt deeply."

"The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them."