“Nature’s law, That man was made to mourn. Man’s inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn! O Death, the poor man’s dearest friend, The kindest and the best!”

I pick my favourite quotations and store them in my mind as ready armour, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.

O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent

O, wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An’ foolish notion.

The best laid plans take 40 years to complete.

I have a hundred times wished that one could resign life as an officer resigns a commission.

The heart that is generous and kind most resembles God.

O Life! thou art a galling load, Along a rough, a weary road, To wretches such as I!

Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!

Ye Hypocrites, are these your pranks To murder men and gie God thanks Desist for shame, proceed no further God won’t accept your thanks for murder.

A women can make an average man great, and a great man average.

My heart ‘s in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My heart ‘s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer.

Look abroad through Nature’s range, Nature’s mighty law is change.

But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, it’s bloom is shed; Or, like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever.

But to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love forever. Had we never lou’d sae kindly, Had we never lou’d sae blindly, Never met – or never parted – We had ne’er been broken hearted.

Oh would some power the gift give us, to see ourselves as others see us!

Some wee short hour ayont the twal.

The builder of the best racing car is not necessarily its best driver.

Brevity in writing is the best insurance for its perusal.

You don’t fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity.

And it is true, best is nothing concealed which shall not be discovered; for which cause a marvellous being shall come after me, who as yet lives not, and who shall reveal many things.

Then the negative energy doesn’t even get into the room. You just have to prepare, and then go in and be the best you that you can be, and you’ll either get the job or you won’t.

The best form to see God in is in every form.

I have often thought that the best Christians are found in the worst of times.

The best prayers have often more groans than words.