"Up the Noran Water In by Inglismaddy, Annie's got a bairnie That hasna got a daddy. Some say it's Tammas's An' some s…"

"This man set the flame of his native genius under the cumbering whin of the untilled field; Lit a fire in the Mearns …"

"Sae smoor yersel', my man, Pit oot yer licht, Grey hair that's tow To a lassie's lowe Is an unco sicht."

"Laughter and gibes and scorn they brave for her: their pounds, their silver, and their pence they give; their time, t…"

"They agonise in sordid tenements, with children stabled worse than sheep or kye. O, how can grace or peace or health …"

"I mind o' the Ponnage Pule On a shinin' mornin', The saumon fishers Nettin' the bonny brutes — I' the slithery dark o…"

"While I am not teetotal, a drunk woman I find revolting and Burns orgies detestable."

"Criticism in Scotland, of books as well as plays, is often bedevilled because we all know each other too well. The cl…"

"I am not asked out to drinking parties and have never been in a Rose Street pub. I can't be a poet."

"I mind o' the Ponnage Pool, The reid brae risin', Morphie Lade, An' the saumon that louped the dam, A tree i' Martin'…"