Quotes and aphorisms on Scotland, about the beauties of the country and the traditions of its people with some good humour too.
The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.
J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind.
Winston Churchill
I’m William Wallace, and the rest of you will be spared. Go back to England and tell them… Scotland is free!
William Wallace
Let us do or die.
Robert Burns (1759-1796, Scottish poet)
We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.
Voltaire
Your heart is free. Learn to follow it.
William Wallace
No one provokes me with impunity.
Mary Queen of Scots
Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
Scottish Proverb
A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.
Thomas Carlyle
Few Americans have heard of Wales. All of them have heard of Ireland and many of them think they are Irish. Scotland gets a sort of free pass, especially since Braveheart re-established the Scots anti-English credentials among the ignorant millions who get their history off the TV.
Peter Hitchens
Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Samuel Johnson
If time is precious, no book that will not improve by repeated reading deserves to be read at all.
Thomas Carlyle
The trouble with Scotland is that it’s full of Scots.
King Edward I
Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only.
Samuel Smiles
History is the essence of innumerable biographies.
Thomas Carlyle
In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.
Thomas Carlyle
To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.
George MacDonald
To have what we want is riches; but to be able to do without is power.
George MacDonald
Give more holiday to you tongue that to your head.
Scottish proverb
We die daily. Happy those who daily come to life as well.
George MacDonald
You can’t live on amusement. It is the froth on water – an inch deep and then the mud.
George MacDonald
Nothing is interesting if you are not interested.
Helen MacInnes
Man is an animal that makes bargains; no other animal does this – one dog does not change a bone with another.
Adam Smith
Men are to be guided only by their self-interests. Good government is a good balancing of these; and, except a keen eye and appetite for self-interest, requires no virtue in any quarter. To both parties it is emphatically a machine: to the discontented, a “taxing-machine;” to the contented, a “machine for securing property.” Its duties and its faults are not those of a father, but of an active parish-constable.
Thomas Carlyle
The illimitable, silent, never-resting thing called Time, rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all-embracing ocean-tide, on which we and all the universe swim like exhalations, like apparitions which are, and then are not: this is forever very literally a miracle; a thing to strike us dumb, for we have no word to speak about it.
Thomas Carlyle
The Present is the living sum-total of the whole Past.
Thomas Carlyle
It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.
Lord Henry P. Brougham
After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books.
Thomas Carlyle
The best effect of any book, is that it excites the reader to self-activity.
Thomas Carlyle
Books are standing counselors and preachers, always at hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please.
Oswald Chambers
Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind.
Robert Chambers
Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.
Samuel Smiles
Action hangs, as it were, “dissolved” in speech, in thoughts whereof speech is the shadow; and precipitates itself therefrom. The kind of speech in a man betokens the kind of action you will get from him.
Thomas Carlyle
Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.
Thomas Carlyle
Narrative is linear, but action has breadth and depth as well as height and is solid.
Thomas Carlyle
Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
Thomas Carlyle
Because Scotland and Northern Ireland want to remain part of the E.U., there is the quite real possibility that Scotland and even Northern Ireland might now choose to go their own way on membership within the E.U. and the ‘United Kingdom’ would suddenly effectively be only England and Wales.
Peter Bergen
Windmills are going to be the death of Scotland and even England if they don’t do something about them. They are ruining the countryside.
Donald Trump
If I own a large part of Scotland, I can turn the people off the land practically into the sea or across the sea. I can take women in child-bearing and throw them into the snow and leave them there. That has been done. I can do it for no better reason than I think it is better to shoot deer on the land than allow people to live on it.
George Bernard Shaw
There are golfers everywhere who may never get a chance to play a links course in Scotland, a tree-lined course in America or the sand belts of Australia. Hopefully I can bring some of those elements into their backyards.
Tiger Woods
O! Desolated Scotland, too credulous of fair speeches, and not aware of the calamities which are coming upon you! If you were to judge as I do, you would not easily put your neck under a foreign yoke.
William Wallace
There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter.
Billy Connolly
Only 4 percent of all the companies owned in Scotland have their head offices in Scotland.
Sean Connery
There’s a lot of fantasy about what Scotland is, and the shortbread tins and that sort of thing.
Sean Connery
There’s something fundamentally wrong with a system where there’s been 17 years of a Tory Government and the people of Scotland have voted Socialist for 17 years. That hardly seems democratic.
Sean Connery
When you hear someone from the very north of Scotland speaking, I think its nice, very musical and harmonious.
Sean Connery
Everything I have done or attempted to do for Scotland has always been for her benefit, never my own and I defy anyone to prove otherwise.
Sean Connery
Scotland should be nothing less than equal with all the other nations of the world.
Sean Connery
I’ve always been hopeful about Scotland’s prospects. And I now believe more than ever that Scotland is within touching distance of achieving independence and equality.
Sean Connery
Scotland is undoubtedly the star of ‘Outlander.’ I’m so proud of the country and all it has to offer.
Sam Heughan
Barbour is a brand that I have grown up with and been associated with since I was living near the borders of Scotland.
Sam Heughan
There’s definitely an interest in Scotland and what happened here. I think the rest of the world are fascinated by our history, and it’s nice to be able to bring Scotland and our culture and music to the screen.
Sam Heughan
I grew up in Scotland, and everyone wore Barbour. It’s very practical; it’s very outdoorsy. It’s what the gamekeepers and the fishermen and the farmers would wear.
Sam Heughan
Scotland is about layering. The weather changes every 10 minutes.
Sam Heughan
I know there’s some kind of history to mountain music-like it came from Ireland or England or Scotland and we kept up the tradition.
Loretta Lynn
My point is there’s a hidden Scotland in anyone who speaks the Northern Ireland speech. It’s a terrific complicating factor, not just in Northern Ireland, but Ireland generally.
Seamus Heaney
I remember my dad came from Ireland and Scotland, and so he carried with him the fear of poverty. So when I wanted to break loose, it kind of made him very nervous.
Robert Redford
What most people don’t understand is that UFOs are on a cosmic tourist route. That’s why they’re always seen in Arizona, Scotland, and New Mexico. Another thing to consider is that all three of those destinations are good places to play golf. So there’s possibly some connection between aliens and golf.
Alice Cooper
I look upon Switzerland as an inferior sort of Scotland.
Sydney Smith
Independence is the only way Scotland can realise its full political and cultural potential in the 21st century.
Tariq Ali
An independent Scotland could be far more internationalist and would benefit a great deal from links to both Scandinavia and states in other continents.
Tariq Ali
Scotland’s political identity was destroyed, and a huge Scottish emigration to North America followed the brutal Highland clearances. These included every layer of Scottish society, not just the remnants of the defeated clans.
Tariq Ali
When we vote to leave, I think a majority of people in Scotland will also vote to leave as well.
Michael Gove
Floral emblems have been often adopted. The houses of York and Lancaster had their roses, the Bourbons of France, the fleur-de-lis, Scotland her thistle, and Ireland her shamrock.
Dorothea Dix
American companies based in Scotland employ large numbers of people – in fact, we are the best performing part of the U.K., outside London and the southeast of England when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment.
Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland has a great deal to offer the world in terms of our approach to key economic and social issues.
Nicola Sturgeon
My message is a simple one – the E.U. is not perfect, but Scotland’s interests are best served by being a member.
Nicola Sturgeon
There are lots of jobs and investment in Scotland dependent on our membership of the E.U. single market.
Nicola Sturgeon
Voting Labour in the past hasn’t protected Scotland against Tory governments.
Nicola Sturgeon
Too often in the past, Scotland has been sidelined and ignored in the Westminster corridors of power, but that doesn’t have to be the case anymore.
Nicola Sturgeon
Every country is going to have to face up to globalisation, but Scotland has got a unique capacity because of its history as part of a multinational state to help us deal with that problem.
Gordon Brown
I love the way the game of golf is lived and played in Scotland. I always have.
Tom Watson
It has long been a fact familiar to geologists, that, both on the east and west coasts of the central part of Scotland, there are lines of raised beaches, containing marine shells of the same species as those now inhabiting the neighbouring sea.
Charles Lyell
Scotland is my country, the nation that shaped me, that taught me my values. A nation whose achievements inspired and inspire me, a community whose failings drive me – drive my overwhelming desire to fight for social justice and equality.
Johann Lamont
I firmly believe that Scotland’s place is in the U.K., and I do not believe in powers for power’s sake.
Johann Lamont
Scotland has chosen to remain in partnership with our neighbours in the U.K. But Scotland is distinct, and colleagues must recognise that.
Johann Lamont
If the U.K. were threatening to withdraw from Europe, I would certainly want Scotland to be out of that.
Peter Higgs
I’m pro-union and utterly hope that Scotland stays within the United Kingdom.
Rose Leslie
Since I became First Minister, I have made clear my priority to alleviate poverty and tackle inequality in Scotland. Ensuring that everyone can do better in life will not only make Scotland fairer, but it will also make it a more prosperous place.
Nicola Sturgeon
For me, personally, it has been humbling since I became First Minister to speak to women and girls and have them tell me how much it means to them to have a woman in the top job in politics in Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon
True gender equality in Scotland – and elsewhere – is still some way off.
Nicola Sturgeon
An independent Scotland – like all countries – will face challenges, and we will have our ups and downs. But the decisions about how we use our wealth will be ours.
Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland has been re-energized, and people all over the country have become involved in – and informed about – politics and government in a way that I have never known before. In short, we have put ourselves firmly in control of our country.
Nicola Sturgeon
Not once in my life has the Tory Party come anywhere close to winning an election in Scotland, and yet, for more than half my life, we have had a Tory government. That is wrong and undemocratic.
Nicola Sturgeon
We already know that social security is more affordable in Scotland than it is in the rest of the U.K. – spending on social protection takes up a smaller share of our economic output and our tax revenues than is the case in the U.K. as a whole.
Nicola Sturgeon
Because of lower life expectancy in Scotland – something that we are working hard to improve – the average woman will get £11,000 less in pension payments than counterparts in the rest of the U.K., even though she will pay exactly the same in contributions.
Nicola Sturgeon
An independent Scotland could afford pensions full stop – after all, it is our taxes and national insurance contributions that fund them now.
Nicola Sturgeon
If Scotland was independent, we’d be the 14th richest country in the developed world.
Nicola Sturgeon
People in Scotland don’t take too kindly to being lectured by a Tory Chancellor.
Nicola Sturgeon
The U.K.’s debt belongs legally to Westminster, so Scotland, by definition, can’t default on it.
Nicola Sturgeon
I love Scotland – I was made an honorary Wallace after my work on ‘Braveheart,’ you know. If I have two or three days off, I love nothing more than driving up there and climbing around Glencoe.
Brian Blessed
I have no time for those who say there is no way Scotland could go it alone. I know first-hand the contribution Scotland and Scots make to Britain’s success – so for me there’s no question about whether Scotland could be an independent nation.
David Cameron
My dad loved Scotland, so we would pile into his caravan and head for the Highlands, to Fort William and Loch Ness. It was such an adventure – my siblings and I were allowed to roam and explore the local beaches. We loved the freedom of those trips.
Rick Astley
People in Scotland want to have Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU, and that’s what the Liberal Democrats are arguing for.
Jo Swinson
I came from a poor family. My father was from Glasgow, Scotland; my mother’s brothers were brakemen on the railroad. We didn’t have anything but mush for breakfast.
Mickey Rooney
My mother was from Scotland and had very fair skin… she wouldn’t allow us to go in the sun.
Julianne Moore
An independent Scotland could afford pensions full stop – after all, it is our taxes and national insurance contributions that fund them now.
Nicola Sturgeon
If Scotland was independent, we’d be the 14th richest country in the developed world.
Nicola Sturgeon
People in Scotland don’t take too kindly to being lectured by a Tory Chancellor.
Nicola Sturgeon
The U.K.’s debt belongs legally to Westminster, so Scotland, by definition, can’t default on it.
Nicola Sturgeon
I love Scotland – I was made an honorary Wallace after my work on ‘Braveheart,’ you know. If I have two or three days off, I love nothing more than driving up there and climbing around Glencoe.
Brian Blessed
I have no time for those who say there is no way Scotland could go it alone. I know first-hand the contribution Scotland and Scots make to Britain’s success – so for me there’s no question about whether Scotland could be an independent nation.
David Cameron
My dad loved Scotland, so we would pile into his caravan and head for the Highlands, to Fort William and Loch Ness. It was such an adventure – my siblings and I were allowed to roam and explore the local beaches. We loved the freedom of those trips.
Rick Astley
People in Scotland want to have Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU, and that’s what the Liberal Democrats are arguing for.
Jo Swinson
I came from a poor family. My father was from Glasgow, Scotland; my mother’s brothers were brakemen on the railroad. We didn’t have anything but mush for breakfast.
Mickey Rooney
My mother was from Scotland and had very fair skin… she wouldn’t allow us to go in the sun.
Julianne Moore
A couple of taxi drivers have asked me if we can survive financially as an independent nation. I say, how come we are more stupid than Denmark or Finland or Sweden? They’ve all got the same amount of people. Are we all going to down tools? Is everybody in Scotland going to stop working?
Eddi Reader
Why should Scotland be stopped from suggesting to the English people that we join a new union under new terms? Let’s not try to dominate one another. Let’s be a collection, like being in the pub with a kitty. When we vote in Scotland, we vote one way, but the other country votes another way and we always end up with what they vote for.
Eddi Reader
If you want to find out more about Scotland you can also read:
Quotes and aphorisms on Scotland
Aphorisms and quotes on Scotland
