In appearance a scholar rather than a man of action, but with an air of grave assurance, which indicated fixity of purpose, a man more apt to give than to take advice.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "In appearance a scholar rather than a man of action, but with an air of grave assurance, which indicated fixity of purpose, a man more apt to give than to take advice." in the context of "James Rose Innes cited in Martin Meredith, Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa (2008), p. 368, his first impression of Milner at Government House, Cape Town" to mean that wisdom is timeless.