This has similarly been attributed to Buchan, but is actually a misrendering of a sentence from the first paragraph of John Bunyan, Discourse on Prayer. Bunyan's original sentence reads: "It is the opener of the heart of God, and a means by which the soul, though empty, is filled."
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Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God.

— John Buchan

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God." in the context of "This has similarly been attributed to Buchan, but is actually a misrendering of a sentence from the first paragraph of John Bunyan, Discourse on Prayer. Bunyan's original sentence reads: "It is the opener of the heart of God, and a means by which the soul, though empty, is filled."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "John Buchan" (Misattributed) 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.