Alasdair Gray Quotes

“Baxter knows a lot more than I do, I told her.Yes, said Baxter, but I will never tell people all of it.”

“I have a vision of a Galaxy overrun by mankind from Core to rim. Of four hundred billion stars each enslaved to the rhythm of Earth's day, Earth's year. I have a vision of a trillion planets pulsing to the beat of a human heart.”

“A brief life burns brightly.”

“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”Note the “I Am.” In the Greek it is the strongest possible form of expression – Ego Eimi. Both ego and eimi mean “I am” but the former puts the emphasis on the “I” while the latter puts it on the “am.” Taken together they are the strongest Greek form to express the name of God as the great “I AM.” That is how the risen Christ here refers to Himself. “Lo, I AM with you!” But there is a lovely feature in the Greek construction here which does not reveal itself in our English translation. It reads like this:“And lo, I with you AM…”You and I dear fellow believer, are in between the “I” and the “AM.” He is not only with us, He is all around us. Not only now and then, but “always” which literally translated is, “all the days” … this day, this hour, this moment. Why, when we reflect on it, were not our Lord’s sudden appearings & disappearings during the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension meant to teach those early disciples (and ourselves) this very thing, that even when He is invisible He is none the less present, hearing, watching, knowing, sympathizing, overruling? Let us never forget that the special promise of His presence is given in connection with our going forth as winners of others to Him.”

“My grandfather Frank Lloyd Wright wore a red sash on his wedding night. That is glamour!”

“Any good music must be an innovation.”

“I wasn't afraid to fail. Something good always comes out of failure.”

“It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes.”

“In necessary things unity in doubtful things liberty in all things charity.”

“[W]hen the pleasure is at the sweetest, death is the nearest (461)[.]”