Being Scottish Quotes & Sayings

I am a gay writer, but I am also a Scottish writer and some days a lazy writer, or a funny writer. Being gay is just a part of who I am. — Damian Barr

Grace flattened her palm on his chest. "I've not been writing it correctly."
"Writing what, exactly?"
"Passion. I forgot what it was," she whispered. "I went off what I saw in movies or read, but I haven't ... experienced ... it in many years."
He didn't like thinking about other men being with her, but they were in the past. Where they would remain. "Were they no' good lovers?"
"They were all right, but without passion, it all feels ... empty."
Arian tightened his arm around her before he rolled her onto her back so he could look into her face. "I'll be happy to show you several times a day. — Donna Grant

I've learned that the heart does not lie. The thought of never being with him or having him in my life again shattered me. Not a day went by that I didn't think of his smile or remember his laugh, his touch, and how that alluring Scottish accent always made my knees tremble. — Victoria Roberts

Fine,' she said, using the universal Scottish word for every state of being from 'I'm dying in anguish' to 'I'm experiencing euphoric joy.' 'Fine,' she said. 'I'm fine. — Kate Atkinson

If she were honest, she'd admit to being very attracted to Creighton Matheson. Something about him formed a large P in her heart ---for passion, protection and permanence. Wasn't P Paisley's favorite letter? — Vonnie Davis

(Scottish Terriers) have all the compactness of a small dog and all the valor of a big one. And they are so exceedingly sturdy that it is proverbial that the only thing fatal to them is being run over by an automobile - in which case the car itself knows it has been in a fight. — Dorothy Parker

The only award I've been nominated for is a Scottish BAFTA. A Scottish BAFTA, it's like hearing that the animals have their own Olympics. You hear all this stuff about TV being faked. Of course it's faked. It's all faked. That documentary a couple of weeks ago about tribal warfare among monkeys, that was all filmed in a Yates wine lodge in Dundee. Comic Relief is faked. Everybody in Africa is fine. — Frankie Boyle

I can't remember exactly when I started to steal, but I do remember being aware of the fact that if I wanted to enjoy myself and be popular, money was the way to do it. — Stephen Richards

Another man of sheer violence was the late Stewart Boyd, he was killed in a car accident over in Spain's Costa del Sol shortly after being released from prison in June 2003. But he certainly left his mark on the city streets of Glasgow. He was a force to be reckoned with, a gang enforcer. Murder and witness intimidation were high on his criminal charge sheet. — Stephen Richards

Suddenly Hal burst through the nearby trees and came to an abrupt halt when he saw her. "Cassie, are you hurt?"
He asked it so casually, as if he came upon women being held at sword point by nude men all the time. — Donna Grant

After a while, you get tired of being the official Scot and defending everything Scottish. — Philip Kerr

I haven't found anything to complain about. But being Scottish, it won't be long. — Peter Capaldi

For some time, Scotland's greatest exports to England have included whisky and Scottish MPs. Or, in the case of Charles Kennedy, both. All these links, politically, economically, culturally, are part of my Union. Would Glasgow's brilliant Commonwealth Games or the Edinburgh Festival be any better for our being independent? I doubt it. — Rory Bremner

Scotland can exist fully if we dream hard enough, Julie. I just can't relate to that Scottish deep-fried-chip-on-the-shoulder. Trainspotting was wrong: it feels fucking great being Scottish. We're becoming something, Julie. I can feel it. We're getting dressed up. — Alan Bissett

I had 'em set a table for ye in 'ere," he explained, nodding at the dishes. "Thought ye might like some stew."
"No, thank you." Her stomach growled audibly and he arched his eyebrows again, a gesture that Sibyl found infuriating. Almost as infuriating as being called "skinny." And "lass."
"This jus' rabbit." He smiled like he could read her mind, going over to the fire and using a long, thick pole with hooked end to lift a black iron pot. "We don't eat humans, Sibyl. — Selena Kitt

There is a danger of Scottish politics being between two sets of dinosaurs ... the Nationalists who can't accept they were rejected by the people, and some colleagues at Westminster who think nothing has changed. — Johann Lamont

Alone. It was such an insignificant word. Or it had been for centuries. He'd sought out the solitude, had slept away centuries in his cave without hesitation. And now? Now he hated the quiet.
He detested being alone. — Donna Grant

All sorts of efforts were made to populate the Floridas - with anyone: Huguenots, Bermudians, Irish, Germans, Swiss, Scottish Highlanders, even some of the prostitutes being rehabilitated in London's Magdalen House. Sir Alexander Grant, who dreamed up the idea of transporting the prostitutes to Florida, confessed, with not exactly stunning insight, "Tis true they are not virgins"; nevertheless, he said, they would surely make splendid wives and mothers for such as were likely to live in a place like Florida.5 — Bernard Bailyn

The point of this book is that being Scottish is more than just a matter of nationality or place of origin or clan or even culture. It is also a state of mind, a way of viewing the world and our place in it. — Arthur Herman

With each successive pint he found that he was enjoying himself significantly less; until now he was sitting and shivering on the sidewalk outside the pub in a small Scottish town, weighing the relative merits of being sick and not being sick, and not enjoying himself at all. — Neil Gaiman

Being hapa, or more specifically, half-Japanese half-Euro mutt (English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, French, Welsh, German ... in case you were wondering), has definitely helped shape who I am. It's very cool to get to identify and learn about all these unique cultures and I think it's helped put the world in perspective. — Kina Grannis

They couldn't turn back time. What was done, was done.
He dropped his arms and lowered his head. Despondency filled him to the very brim. He was a dragon. A creature of magic and fire. A being that was lethal and dangerous.
The Kings had forgotten that. All but one. — Donna Grant

I see myself as a Scottish sky: there are rain clouds, rainbows and sunrays that run and overtake one another, mingle together and dance with each other! You see all of this within seconds of looking up! It's a living sky, it breathes and it's real! And I think that when you look at me, you'll see my rain clouds first, because only after rainclouds can there come the rainbows. You see, if the rainbows come first, then the rainbows aren't even real, so I think that if people deserve to see my real rainbows, then they will just know that they need to stick around through the rain! Like a Scottish sky, I want to be real and breathing and running. I don't want to be a clear blue all the time, or a dark grey all the time or have fake rainbows painted onto me; I want to be Scottish. — C. JoyBell C.

Quite a number of writers comment on the decidedly human character of the fairies, but it must be obvious that practically all supernaturals partake of human traits, more usually unpleasant ones, being as they are the projections of man's fear and imagination and created by him, psychologically, in his own image. Fairies are frequently described as being peevish, irritable, and revengeful to a degree. Grant Stewart says rather unmercifully of the Scottish fairies that their appetites are as keen as their inclinations are corrupt and wicked. — Lewis Spence

I love the 6 Nations rugby. I feel very Scottish then. I feel very Scottish now, sitting in the middle of Chelsea. But that's part of our heritage - being part of Britain, part of Europe. I love being European. — Rory Bremner

One of the very, very exciting things I have found here in L.A. is that no one talks to you about being Scottish. Whereas, if you are in London and you are trying to put films together and be a film-maker, there is a kind of unspoken sense that, if you are Scottish, you have something to overcome or else you cannot really do that project. — Peter Capaldi

More of a QUESTION: When I was in high school in the 1980's I read a book but cannot remember the name. It had a spooky green cover with a german shepherd like dog on it and I seem to remember it being about ghosts or something in the English countryside -although it could have been Irish or Wales or Scottish. Does anyone else remember this book and can you tell me the name? I would love to reread it since it set me on my path to my LOVE if reading. — M.D. Robinson

In Polmont, everyone was acting the hard man and giving it the large. I had to fight or cosh or do something to be accepted. I can tell you, it was better to be in a gang than being on your own, and I'd do anything in Polmont, no questions asked! — Stephen Richards

Angus skidded to a stop and lifted his jaw as if sensing he was being watched. He looked in her direction and instantly covered his manhood as his eyes caught Jane's shocked face in the tree limbs. "Oh, lassie."
"Oh, naked man," Jane teased before she could stop herself. — Michelle M. Pillow

I like Scottish people because they feel very true. They're always level and straight. They get a reputation for being hardened because of it, but I find them to be scrupulously honest people. — Rupert Friend

We will renew our party, to rebuild our land - and we will do it by being a better Labour, real Labour, Scottish Labour. — Johann Lamont

I never once dreamed of sort of being able to be in an American TV series, you know? It was all about theater and touring and sort of being an actor around Scottish theater. — Sam Heughan

His life had been ripped away from him without his being able to fight against it. That was difficult enough, but to know that the one woman that consumed his thoughts day and night, the one woman who captured his attention with a mere smile would never be his ...
It was beyond cruel. — Donna Grant

The attendance of that brother was now become like the attendance of a demon on some devoted being that had sold himself to destruction — James Hogg

Rory did not want her.
After devoting so much effort to avoid being wed to a man she did not want, she found herself bound to a man who did not want her. — Margaret Mallory

Some time ago a little-known Scottish philosopher wrote a book on what makes nations succeed and what makes them fail. The Wealth of Nations is still being read today. With the same perspicacity and with the same broad historical perspective, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have retackled this same question for our own times. Two centuries from now our great-great- ... -great grandchildren will be, similarly, reading Why Nations Fail. — George Akerlof

My own experience of growing up as a Roman Catholic in Scotland has led me to fear independence in Scotland. The possibility of Scotland being a kind of Stormont is a real one. I wrote a book recently about Neil Lennon's year of living dangerously and in the course of it I had to revisit some of my own experiences. Of course, most Scottish people are not swivel-eyed, loyalist sectarians but there are a large number of them. A large six-figure number, and if I were living in Scotland as a Roman Catholic I would be worried about that. — George Galloway

Waternish Estate was sold to a Dutchman in the 1960s when Bad-tempered Donald died. In turn, the Dutchman sold a part of the estate to the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. Donovan was the first of the British musicians to adopt the flower-power image. He is most famous for the psychedelically fabulous smash hits "Sunshine Superman," "Season of the Witch" and "The Fat Angel," and for being the first high-profile British pop star to be arrested for the possession of marijuana. Donovan has a history of being deeply groovy and of being most often confused with Bob Dylan, which reportedly annoys Donovan quite a lot. "Sometime in the early seventies, Bob Dylan bought part of the estate," Mum tells me. "But he put a water bed on the second floor of the house for whatever it is these hippies get up to, and it came crashing through the ceiling." "Not Bob Dylan," I say. "Donovan." "Who?" Mum says. — Alexandra Fuller

Being a great believer in Scottish tradition, I followed the example of my fellow countrymen and moved to England. — Rory Bremner

Being a bear brings us more freedom." He tilted his glass and swallowed its contents. "Sometimes I'd sooner stay a bear. — Vonnie Davis

I think the French agonise more about being French, I don't think English think about being English that much. I think the Scottish think about being Scottish and the Welsh think about being Welsh, but the English don't really care. But the French think about it all the time, it's an absolute preoccupation. — Jonathan Meades

I'm going to brand myself on you so that whenever you dress, wash, or even think of being with someone else, all you'll feel, see and want is me. — Donna Grant