“You, dear reader, have now two accounts to choose between and there can be no doubt which is most probable.”

“You, dear reader, have now two accounts to choose between and there can be no doubt which is most probable.”

“Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.”

“...there were certain chapters when I stopped writing, saw the domestic situation I was in and thought, "I don't want to face this world, let's get back to the hellish one I'm imagining.”

“Glasgow is a magnificent city,” said McAlpin. “Why do we hardly ever notice that?” “Because nobody imagines living here…think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he’s already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But if a city hasn’t been used by an artist not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively.”

“Metaforen är ett av tankens väsentligaste verktyg. Den belyser vad som annars skulle ligga helt i mörker. Men denna belysning blir ibland så klar att den bländar istället för avslöjar.”

“People who care nothing for their country's stories and songs,' he said, 'are like people without a past- without a memory- they are half people”

“Besides, a life without freedom to choose is not worth having.”

“One day you will tell me how to change what I cannot yet describe without my words swelling HUGE, vowels vanishing, tears washing ink away.”

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

“You, dear reader, have now two accounts to choose between and there can be no doubt which is most probable.”