Book Week Scotland is well under way and as part of the literary celebrations The Scottish Book Trust opened up a poll to determine the most quotable lines from a shortlist of 40 books.
The public voted and the results of the poll were announced today, below are listed the Top Ten.
“I am your master … and you’re mine. Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.”
Outlander Vol 1, by Diana Gabaldon
“You hated the land and the coarse speak of the folk and learning was brave and fine one day and the next you’d waken with the peewits crying across the hills, deep and deep, crying in the heart of you and the smell of the earth in your face, almost you’d cry for that, the beauty of it and the sweetness of the Scottish land and skies.”
Sunset Song By Lewis Grassic Gibbon
“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
The Twits, by Roald Dahl
“You may shoot me with your words / You may cut me with your eyes / You may kill me with your hatefulness/ But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
The Crow Road by Iain Banks
“The dead don’t go till you do, loved ones. /The dead are still here holding our hands.”
Darling by Jackie Kay
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”
The Little White Bird by J M Barrie
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
“It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The Little Prince by Antoine de St Exupéry
“You suffer from the oldest delusion in politics. You think you can change the world by talking to a leader. Leaders are the effects, not the causes of changes.”
Lanark by Alasdair Gray
What wonderful quotes and a number of authors I’ve never heard of too. Well chosen Scotland.
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