The books that are really valuable are the books that evoke a sense of place. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
I just write the stuff I want to at the time, what feels right for me. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
There is nothing, really, that I wouldn't write about, and I do write about a lot of grim things. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
Sometimes a book influences me because it winds me up. There'll be something that gets under my skin and makes me think… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
I don't perceive an audience at all when I write a book. It's pure self-indulgence. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
In some ways, you can say that at any time in any writer's career: 'He might have run out of ideas.' — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
Writing is about culture and should be about everything. That's what makes it what it is. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
You know what it's like: you don't want to read your old books again. All you can see are the flaws, what… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
As soon as you've written it, you're thinking about how it can move into different mediums. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
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… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
If it's something that I feel uncomfortable with, that's a reason for me to write it. I kind of like to make… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
It's that kind of thing that readers have. I have it as a reader myself: that expectation that the writer will be… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
I'd always liked to read, but when I picked up books I wasn't getting the same kind of excitement from them that… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
Basically, particularly in Britain, it's a hegemonic thing that people who write tend to come from the leisure classes. They can afford… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
Every kind of book I've written has been written in a different way. There has not been any set time for writing,… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
The idea is not enough. And the most annoying thing for me as a writer is that people will come up to… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
When people write a novel, they want to have that reach and that impact. To get it with a first novel, you… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
I think young writers should get other degrees first, social sciences, arts degrees or even business degrees. What you learn is research… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
When you look at the whole explosion of the Internet, the decline of print journalism, there are all of these plus-or-minus ramifications,… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
'Ulysses' is like a big box of tricks that you can dive into. Each time you read it, you find something new. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
Writers in Britain aren't really celebrities. You become kind of a darling of a small set. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
“Everybody talks about being a writer, angel. If every novel conceived on a bar stool made it into print, there wood not… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
The establishment, the newspapers, they try to create something called Scottish literature, but when people are actually going to write, they are… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
When I go to places and do book tours, I don't really like doing traditional bookshops. It's nice to walk people through… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
You're on your own with the book. And while you are writing fiction, you're spending all this time with people who don't… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
I come up with a blurb at the beginning, but the book will always be completely different by the time it's finished.… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
When people start writing there is this idea that you have to get everything right first time, every sentence has to be… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
Everybody that writes has their own area of inquiry. And mine has always been kind of, why is it that when life… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
As a writer, you play this daft game with yourself - you're constantly looking for distractions, anything to stop you from writing,… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share Image
I don't see [ Trainspotting ] as an albatross, I see it more as a calling card. It's got me out to Hollywood, I've… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
He emphasised basic truths: you are not dying yet, you have to live your life until you are. Underpinning them was the belief that… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
“Without this kickstart to my day, I'd be lost. A day without a morning run is a day you fumble through, rather than one… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
“There's nae reasoning wi some cats. You say 'reason', they mew 'treason'. Ken?” — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
It's crazy for somebody who's kind of empowered and wealthy like myself to say, "Oh, I don't need to be patronized by the state,… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
When you go away, you see where you come from in a different light. I see Scotland, and the rest of Britain, as much… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
If it's something that I feel uncomfortable with, that's a reason for me to write it. I kind of like to make myself feel… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
There's nothing worse than a violent beating from an unremarkable person. Physical violence with someone is too much like shagging them. Too much id… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
If I stop working and publishing, and TV, and film and all that, I would be dead within a couple of weeks. I don't… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
I can see why the Russians love Robert Burns, I think that Russians and Koreans have a very similar outlook to Scots. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
If you continue to transfer the wealth of the population of the planet to a very small amount of people, it becomes untenable at… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
Most middle-class people I know don't really live like me. Middle-class people worry a lot about money. They worry a lot about job security,… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
As soon as you've written it, you're thinking about how it can move into different mediums. — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
“Begbie doesnae even notice; he's in his element, particularly good at funerals in the way a lot ay psychopaths tend tae be. Ah suppose… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
I'm more of a warrior than you'll ever be. I believe in the class war. I believe in the battle of the sexes. I… — Irvine Welsh Copy Share
