Top 1200 Quotes & Sayings by Scottish Authors - Page 4

I like writing about teenagers because it's a time of great change and conflict. Up to then, you accept what your parents tell you.

I am very indecisive. I'm always afraid of making the wrong decision.

All the songs we do are basically about one of three things: booze, sex or rock n roll.

I wear glasses and suits, so I guess I am an indie artist.

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.

A rat race is for rats. We're not rats. We're human beings. Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement.

OUR history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us.

The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

Encourage your own curiosity; pursue the problems based on that. Don't get diverted by trying to do things for your own advancement. In other words, don't be lured into responding to incentives.

Execution really shapes whether your company takes off or not.

He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; and he that dares not reason is a slave.

This ship was a league from us, and some of the men would have taken her, and I would not consent to it, and this Moore said I always hindered them making their fortunes. Was that not the reason I struck him? Was there a mutiny on board?

If you're too methodical, too fearful, you're not going to win. But the clever thing is to make the calculation correctly about where and when to go over the top. You've got to know when to push it and when to come back.

Friendship! Mysterious cement of the soul, Sweet'ner of life, and solder of society.

I wouldn't be surprised if this game went all the way to the finish.

I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward.

The principle that certain sins should not receive the Church's testimony of forgiveness was probably no novelty at all, but had been applied in various churches; perhaps, however, with no strict consistency.

Socially, I think I'm quite comfortable; I enjoy chatting to people... but I do have my quirks.

Ampere was the Newton of Electricity.

Into this pour the purified juice: and put it into a pan of water come almost to a boil and continue nearly in the state of boiling until the juice is found to be the consistency of a thick syrup when cold. It is then when cold, to be corked up in a bottle for use.

I used to listen to the Beatles and Stones, whereas Angus was more into the heavier stuff - Cream, Hendrix - with the lead guitar.

During my time on 'Question of Sport', we had a lot of boxing greats - such as George Foreman, Marvin Hagler and Joe Calzaghe.

When you're older, you want to be scared because you understand more where the boundaries between fantasy and reality are, and I suppose they are more blurred the younger you are.

I created something that became a phenomenon without becoming a prisoner to it.

There was a lot of pressure on me when I was 18, 19 to move to America. I went out for a couple of weeks and hated it. I thought I could go out my mind. You could really see how people could go off the rails.

You can't applaud a referee.

When I've known something is right, the actual doing of it is not scary. It's like being onstage or performing. After it and before it, there might be a lot of fear, but the act of it is never scary for me.

We do not need to be heroes to save the world; all we need is humility, a critical view of the commercial and political interests of those who would mislead us into wrongdoing, and a sense of wonder.

To be honest, I think bananas are a pathetic fruit.

Robert Burns enriched Scottish song with his genius and is mainly responsible for the rich treasure house of song that we enjoy today. He collected folk songs, retained the melodic line, kept what words were usable and rewrote the rest. He didn't claim ownership.

I am not anti-English, and I never was.

The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny.

Dare to be honest and fear no labor.

My Mother is Swedish and my Father is Scottish, he played for Charlton in the 1960's and was in the Army, he captained the British forces team. We then moved to S.A. because a lot of players did that at the time.

Having said that, I enjoyed every minute of my time and I got a degree of job satisfaction which I am sure was far greater than the majority of my colleagues.

I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives.

I am not an Englishman, I was never an Englishman, and I don't ever want to be one. I am a Scotsman! I was a Scotsman and I will always be one.

I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books!

It was indeed not very sound. However, those who had taken it, were in a fairer way of recovery than the others at the end of the fortnight, which was the length of time all these different courses were continued, except the oranges.

Bullying is a terrible, terrible thing.

That's the mark of a great storyteller, never to give away secrets in advance.

Action, so to speak, is the genius of nature.

Chefs are nutters. They're all self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little souls and absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them.

No magic wands have been waved in my direction; I didn't win some kind of lottery to land a spot at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

I have tried to preserve in my relationship to the film the same closeness and intimacy that exists between a painter and his canvas.

I loved Jake Gyllenhaal. He's the most beautiful thing ever.

I can never shut the door on Aston Villa but I think it's blatantly obvious for everyone looking at it that it's done.

God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.

I don't crave Hollywood.

It was a sort of weird, troubled road into acting because I had been a bit naughty in school until I did my Highers, and then I was like, 'Oh, I think I'm going to apply myself and surprise everyone.'

When George asked me to be the prequels, it was the same kind of meeting - it was very short and to the point. It was nice to see him after a long time, and we met in a hotel room.

Brexit is turning out to be a really really bad meal. We ordered steak and chips and we've now got some raw chicken that smells bad.

After voluntary exertions on the part of our people to which the history of the world furnishes no parallel, is the old root of bitterness still to remain in the ground, to sprout and bear fruit in the future as it has borne fruit in the past?

When you're young and you first come onto the scene, you're fearless. You just go for your shots and don't really think about the consequences. But as you play on through years and years, you get punished for those misses, and gradually, that leaves scars. It dents your confidence a bit.

If there is a tendency in modern television I hate, it is the unstoppable march of the dramatic reconstruction to tell the stories of anything from an ancient Egyptian battle to the early life of Paul Gascoigne.

When writing about Edinburgh, I place my characters in the parts of the city that I myself have lived in, or else know well, those being the Southside, Marchmont in particular, where I lived as a student, and the New Town/Stockbridge area where I live now and have done for the past 30 years.

For the Christian, heaven is where Jesus is. We do not need to speculate on what heaven will be like. It is enough to know that we will be for ever with Him.

My kids love it. I thought I was the coolest dad in the world when I got to be in a Bond film, but 'Harry Potter', too? Well, I think I qualify for a medal for exceptional parenting or something, don't you?

Everything's intentional. It's just filling in the dots.

When you're playing a real person, there's a balance between playing the person in the script and playing the person as he was in life. You have to be respectful and true to who that person was, but at the same time tell the story in the film.