If good history is dispassionate history, it must naturally wait until the passions of the period subside. – James Buchan
The world dominion of western thought, forms of organisation, technology and military force is not God-given, nor eternal, nor greatly appreciated by the rest of the world. – James Buchan
The year 2008 was a reminder to those who had forgotten that there is such a thing as history and that the cycle of famine and feast in commerce, first identified in antiquity and well understood in the Middle Ages, was not suddenly abolished in modern times. – James Buchan
To make a love story, you need a couple of young people, but to reflect on the nature of love, youre better off with old ones. That is a fact of life and literature – and of the novel ever since it fell in love with love in the 18th century. – James Buchan