Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

You cannot understand God without understanding people

I'm completely indifferent to what genre I read provided that I feel sympathy with how a writer perceives being alive in the world.

art, n. This word has no definition.

Just because something is legible doesn't mean it communicates...

Once the forest has been removed and the swamp starts being drained, that organic matter begins to oxidise and give off continuing emissions. It's sort of like the goose that keeps on giving.

If God wishes to reveal the love that he harbors for the world, this love has to be something that the world can recognize, in spite of, or in fact in, its being wholly other.

The subsequent success levels, all the other stuff [after Trainspotting], it comes at a much higher level.

... the place you're in is pretty near what you're fitted to fill. Otherwise you'd get out and fill another.

Fear is something I instill in other people, mostly young girls.

Stay with me. I’ll show you things that’ll make you laugh in delight, scream in passion, cry for the sheer joy of it.