Scottish Quotations - Page 2
Prince Charles Edward Stewart - "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
"Thirty million, mostly fools."
Writer and economist Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), responding to a question on the size of the population of England.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "He that has a secret should not only hide it, but hide that he has something to hide"
Writer and historian, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Touch his head, and he will bargain and argue with you to the last;
Touch his heart, and he falls upon your breast."Steel merchant and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie giving a description of two aspects of the Scottish character.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I like to tell people when they ask "Are you a native born?" "No sir, I am a Scotsman" and I feel as proud as I am sure every Roman did when it was their boast to say "I am a Roman citizen"
"How beautiful is Dunfermline seen from the Ferry Hills, its grand old abbey towering over all, seeming to hallow the city and to lend a charm and dignity to the lowliest tenement... What Benares is to the Hindu, Mecca to the Mohammedan, Jerusalem to the Christian, all that is Dunfermline to me."
"Put all your good eggs in one basket - and then watch that basket."
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1918), industrialist and philanthropist, born in Dunfermline.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the opening of the Glasgow Garden Festival ten years ago, Prince Charles, with apologies for his lack of Glasgow accent, quoted from a song by a radical Scots folk singer Adam McNaughton:
"Where is the Glasgow I used to stay,
With white wally closes wally closes=entrance lined with china tiles Done up with pipe clay Where you knew all your neighbours From first floor to third And keeping your door locked Was considered absurd" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Now I don't know if you remember the first time you ever tasted whisky and the tremendous shock to the nervous system that is. In Scotland this usually happens around the age of four - not because your parents give it to you but because there are these parties at New Year...."
Billy Connolly in "Gullible's Travels"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm schizophrenic, and so am I."
Actor and entertainer Billy Connolly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "To an artiste, applause is like a banquet... Thanks for the cheese sandwich."
Comedian Billy Connolly, to a Glasgow audience that had been less than enthusiastic.
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"From the greed of the Campbells
From the ire of the Drummonds
From the pride of the Grahams
And from the wind of the Murrays
Gude Lord preserve us."The "Cultoquhey Prayer" (pronounced Cultoowhey). Written in the 1700's by an eccentric laird of Cultoquhey in Perthshire about his powerful neighbours. The property was owned by the Maxton family for 500 years. The poem was used by the Laird every morning and evening - and was frequently said in the presence of his illustrious neighbours!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The proper drinking of Scotch whisky is more than indulgence; it is a toast to a civilisation, a tribute to the continuity of culture, a manifesto of man's determination to use the resources of nature to refresh mind and body and enjoy to the full the senses with which he has been endowed"
David Daiches, writer and critic in his book "Scotch Whisky" in 1969
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The truth of the matter is that we Scots have always been more divided amongst ourselves than pitted against the English. Scottish history before the Union of the Parliaments is a gloomy, violent tale of murders, feuds and tribal revenge. Only after the Act of Union did Highlanders and Lowlanders, Picts and Celts, begin to recognise one another as fellow citizens
Tam Dalyell, Labour politician, MP for West Lothian (1962-83) and for Linlithgow (1983 to date)
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