"People in Scotland have a queer idea of the arts. They think you can be an artist in your spare time, though nobody e…"

"Remember, Duncan, when most people leave school they have to live by work which can't be liked for its own sake and w…"

"I bet you felt very special and superior, being punished by God for something he doesnae give a damn for in other fol…"

"Instead of visiting ten parties since you came here, laying ten women and getting drunk ten times, you've watched thi…"

"Art is the only work open to people who can't get along with others and still want to be special."

"Attention, please note! Attention, please note! The expansion committee announces that after the hundred and eightiet…"

"A story can always end happily by stopping at a cheerful moment. Of course in nature the only end is death, but death…"

"I paint because I feel cheap and purposeless when I don't." "I envy your purpose." "I envy your self-confidence." "Wh…"

"I wish I was a duck on Alexandra Park pond. I could swim, and fly, and walk, and have three wives, and everything I w…"

"War is just a violent way of doing what half the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat, …"