Ian Maclaren - Wikipedia Ian Maclaren For the actor, see Ian Maclaren ( actor ). Ian Maclaren John Watson ( 1850 - 11 - 03 ) 3 November 1850 Manningtree, Essex 6 May 1907 ( 1907 - 05 - 07 ) ( aged 56 ) Mount Pleasant, Iowa Nationality Scots Rev. John Watson ( 3 November 1850 -- 6 May 1907 ), known by his pen name Ian Maclaren, was a Scottish author and theologian. Contents 1 Biography 2 Bibliography 2.1 Fiction as Ian Maclaren 2.2 Non-fiction as Ian Maclaren 2.3 Books of sermons as John Watson 3 References 4 External links Biography He was the son of John Watson, a civil servant. He was born in Manningtree, Essex, and educated at Stirling and at Edinburgh University, later studying theology at New College, Edinburgh, and at Tübingen. In 1874 he became a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and became assistant minister of Edinburgh Barclay Church. Subsequently, he was minister at Logiealmond in Perthshire and at Glasgow, and in 1880 he became minister of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, from which he retired in 1905. Cover of Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush ( 1894 ) In 1896 he was Lyman Beecher lecturer at Yale University, and in 1900 he was moderator of the synod of the English Presbyterian Church. While travelling in the United States he died from blood poisoning, following a bout with tonsilitis, at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. His body was returned to England, and buried in Smithdown Cemetery in Liverpool. Maclaren 's first stories of rural Scottish life, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush ( 1894 ), achieved extraordinary popularity, selling more than 700 thousand copies, and were succeeded by other successful books, The Days of Auld Lang Syne ( 1895 ), Kate Carnegie and those Ministers ( 1896 ), and Afterwards and other Stories ( 1898 ). By his own name Watson published several volumes of sermons, among them being The Upper Room ( 1895 ), The Mind of the Master ( 1896 ) and The Potter 's Wheel ( 1897 ). Today he is regarded as one of the principal writers of the Kailyard school. It is thought that Maclaren was the original source of the quotation `` Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle, '' now widely misattributed to Plato or Philo of Alexandria. The oldest known instance of this quotation is in the 1897 Christmas edition of The British Weekly, penned by Maclaren : `` Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle. '' Bibliography Fiction as Ian Maclaren 1894 : Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush 1895 : The Days of Auld Lang Syne 1895 : A Doctor of the Old School 1896 : Kate Carnegie and those Ministers 1898 : Afterwards and other Stories 1898 : Rabbi Saunderson 1899 : Young Barbarians 1907 : Graham of Claverhouse ( novel ) Non-fiction as Ian Maclaren 1896 : The Cure of Souls 1898 : Companions of the Sorrowful Way 1900 : Church Folks 1912 : Books and Bookmen ( book ) Books of sermons as John Watson 1895 : The Upper Room ( book ) 1896 : The Mind of the Master 1897 : The Potter 's Wheel 1898 : Companions of the Sorrowful Way 1899 : In Answer to Prayer : The Touch of the Unseen - A book of sermons cowritten with Rev. W. Boyd Carpenter ( Lord Bishop of Ripon 11 ), Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, Rev. Canon Knox Little, William Quarrier, Leonard K. Shaw, Rev. R.F. Horton, Rev. H. Price Hughes, Rev. J. Clifford, G.D. Boyle ( Dean of Salisbury ) References Jump up ^ Papers Past - Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, 8 May 1907, Page 4 Jump up ^ Nicoll, W. Robertson ( 1908 ). ' Ian Maclaren ' : Life of the Rev. John Watson, D.D. London : Hodder and Stoughton. p. 379. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ `` Ian Maclaren 's Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush is one of the most notorious works of Scottish literature. First published in 1894, the book was an instant best - seller. Millions of readers across the world rushed to devour these nostalgic tales of Scottish life in a bygone age ''. Kennedy & Boyd. Retrieved 13 October 2009. Jump up ^ `` Kailyard School ( 1886 - 1896 ) ''. The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13 October 2009. Jump up ^ Campbell, Ian ( 1981 ), Kailyard : A New Assessment, The Ramsay Head Press, Edinburgh Jump up ^ Quote Investigator : Be Kind ; Everyone You Meet is Fighting a Hard Battle, June 29, 2010 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. ( 1911 ). `` Maclaren, Ian ''. Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 ( 11th ed. ). Cambridge University Press. p. 261. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ian Maclaren. Works by Ian Maclaren at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Ian Maclaren at Internet Archive Works by or about John Watson at Internet Archive VIAF : 103210949 LCCN : n50021885 ISNI : 0000 0001 0804 249X GND : 106492667 SUDOC : 113337426 NLA : 36580487 IATH : w6281fhp This article about a Scottish writer, poet or playwright is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ian_Maclaren&oldid=795119446 '' Categories : 1850 births 1907 deaths People from Tendring ( district ) Anglo - Scots Scottish Protestant ministers and clergy Scottish writers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Yale University faculty Kailyard school 19th - century Scottish people 19th - century Scottish writers Pseudonymous writers Scottish writer stubs Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Use dmy dates from November 2012 Articles with hCards Pages with timeline metadata Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Commons category without a link on Wikidata Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers All stub articles Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Wikisource Español Scots Svenska Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 12 August 2017, at 04 : 00. About Wikipedia

Question: who said everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about
Answer: Maclaren