Ch. VIII "The Hidden City"
“

I have known fellows to whom the earth was so full of little pleasures that after the worst clouts they rose like larks from a furrow. A wise philosophy—but I had none of it. I always saw the little pageant of man's life like a child's peep-show beside the dark wastes of eternity.

— John Buchan

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I have known fellows to whom the earth was so full of little pleasures that after the worst clouts they rose like larks from a furrow. A wise philosophy—but I had none of it. I always saw the little pageant of man's life like a child's peep-show beside the dark wastes of eternity." in the context of "Ch. VIII "The Hidden City"" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "John Buchan" (Quotes, The Path of the King (1921)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John Buchan

About John Buchan

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and politician who was Governor-General of Canada from 1935 to 1940.