Irvine Welsh Quotes
-
We've become used to processing images that are part of the non-linear narrative theory. I think there's a thinner line between fantasy and normality. People spend much more time in their own heads now. There's so much to conform to, so many influences coming at you.
-
Before I started writing, I'd never read much fiction. I was more interested in non-fiction. I'm taking the same approach to theatre: I can operate from a position of ignorance and make up my own rules instead of being bound by customs and practice.
-
Music helps me immeasurably in the writing process.
-
There's something about the modern era where it's very hard to transgress - we're all so online, easier to track by mobile phone - so you have people who do it on your behalf.
-
It's been a good thing for me to try and understand America.
-
Writing is such a good thing to do because you can't really get bored with it. If you're bored with writing, you're bored with life.
-
Sometimes ah think that people become junkies just because they subconsiously crave a wee bit ay silence.
-
It's different in Scotland. People who come to readings are more interested in literature as such, but the readership in general is really quite diverse. It's a cliche, but it's said that people who read my books don't read any other books, and you do get that element.
-
As soon as you've written it, you're thinking about how it can move into different mediums.
-
People either think I'm this totally savage, idiot-savant genius guy who's lucked out or they think I'm a super-manipulative crafty businessman, this kind of MBA guy who's spotted a gap in the market and knows how to create a product for it. It's flattering, but I've not got that much of a gameplan.
-
I have a lot of successful musician pals, and as I get older, I find that I'm lucky to be a writer. I have great anonymity compared to musicians who sell the same number of records as I do books.
-
'Ulysses' is like a big box of tricks that you can dive into. Each time you read it, you find something new.
-
Holy Joy were a cult '80s band led by the wonderful songwriting genius that is Johny Brown.
-
Television has become the government, priest, psychotherapist - the legitimiser of our egos.
-
Everybody that writes has their own area of inquiry. And mine has always been kind of, why is it that when life can be so hard and difficult, we compound it by self-sabotage, doing terrible things? That's always been my main area of inquiry, and it does lead you to dark places.
-
The idea is not enough. And the most annoying thing for me as a writer is that people will come up to me and say, 'Hey, I've got a great idea for a book. I'm not a writer, but I've got a great story.'
-
Everybody in my family were great storytellers. My dad and his brothers would just go on and on; they could tell amazing stories. I think it was something to do with the Celtic, oral storytelling tradition. People very much had that propensity towards telling tales.
-
There is a kind of mysticism to writing.
-
Boxing gives you such a good workout, although I've stopped sparring. When your hand speed goes, you're going to get caught, and you can't afford to take cumulative smacks on the chops when you're a writer.
-
Sometimes a book influences me because it winds me up. There'll be something that gets under my skin and makes me think that I can do better.
-
I'm trying to make really flawed characters that have got redeeming features so people can say, 'I don't really like that character, but I can understand a bit where they've come from.'
-
It's very difficult to be objective about yourself and your own circumstances, but one thing I do know about is that I grew up surrounded by storytellers.
-
Ah jist shrugged, - Well, as one anarchist plumber sais tae the other: smash the cistern.
-
I just write the stuff I want to at the time, what feels right for me.