Quotes from book
Trainspotting

Irvine Welsh

Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, first published in 1993. It takes the form of a collection of short stories, written in either Scots, Scottish English or British English, revolving around various residents of Leith, Edinburgh who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are implicitly portrayed as addictions that serve the same function as heroin addiction. The novel is set in the late 1980s and has been described by The Sunday Times as "the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent".The novel has since achieved a cult status, added to by the global success of the film based on it, Trainspotting , directed by Danny Boyle. Welsh wrote a sequel, Porno, in 2002. Skagboys, a novel that serves as a prequel, was published in April 2012.

“Everything in the street today seems soft focus.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“Now there is apparently a causal link between heroin addiction and vegetarianism.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“take your best orgasm, multiply the feeling by twenty, and you're still fuckin miles off the pace”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“It's easy tae be philosophical when some other cunt's got shite fir blood.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“Sometimes ah think that people become junkies just because they subconsiously crave a wee bit ay silence.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "Kicking: The Skag Boys, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mother Superior" (Chapter 1, Story 1).
Source: Trainspotting (1993)

“Iggy Pop looks right at me as he sings the line: 'America takes drugs in psychic defence'; only he changes 'America' to 'Scatlin', and defines us mair accurately in a single sentence than all the others have ever done.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“Love does not exist, it's like religion, the state wants you to believe in that kind of crap so they can control you, and f**k your head up.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Source: Trainspotting

“Funny scene, likesay, how aw the psychos seem tae ken each other, ken what ah means, likes?”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Spud, "Kicking Again: Na Na and Other Nazis" (Chapter 3, Story 2).
Trainspotting (1993)

“How many shots does it take before the concept ay choice becomes obsolete?”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, Blowing It: Courting Disaster" (Chapter 4, Story 1).
Trainspotting (1993)

“Ah wonder if anybody this side of the Atlantic has ever bought a baseball bat with playing baseball in mind.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Sick Boy, "Blowing It: Deid Dugs" (Chapter 4, Story 3).
Trainspotting (1993)

“Rents once sais, thirs nothin like a darker skin tone tae increase the vigilance ay the police n the magistrates: too right.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Spud, "Kicking Again: Na Na and Other Nazis" (Chapter 3, Story 2).
Trainspotting (1993)

“"We are all acquaintances now". It goes beyond our personal junk circumstances; a brilliant metaphor for our times.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

ibid
Trainspotting (1993)

“Ah thought that every cunt over twenty was a toss an no worth speakin tae, until ah hit twenty. The mair ah see, the mair ah think ah wis right. After that it's aw ugly compromise, aw timid surrender, progressively until death.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "Blowing It: Bang to Rites" (Chapter 4, Story 6).
Trainspotting (1993)

“Ah hate cunts like that. Cunts like Begbie. Cunts that are intae basebaw-batting every fucker that's different; pakis, poofs, n what huv ye. Fuckin failures in a country ay failures. It's nae good blamin it oan the English fir colonising us. Ah don't hate the English. They're just wankers. We are colonised by wankers. We can't even pick a decent, vibrant, healthy culture to be colonised by. No. We're ruled by effete arseholes. What does that make us? The lowest of the fuckin low, tha's what, the scum of the earth. The most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shat intae creation. Ah don't hate the English. They just git oan wi the shite thuv goat. Ah hate the Scots.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "Relapsing: The Glass" (Chapter 2, Story 2).
Trainspotting (1993)

“I dinnae Tam, ah jist dinnae. Life's boring and futile. We start oaf wi high hopes, then we bottle it. We realize that we're aw gaunnae die, withoot really findin oot the big answers. We develop aw they long-winded ideas which jist interpret the reality ay oor lives in different weys, withoot really extending oor body ay worthwhile knowledge, about the big things, the real things. Basically, we live a short, disappointing life; and then we die. We fill oor lives up wi shite, shite like joabs n relationships, tae delude ourselves intae thinkin that it isnae aw totally pointless. Smack's an honest drug, because it strips away these delusions. It's the only really honest drug. It disnae alter yir consciousness. It jist gies ye a hit and a sense ay well-being. After that, ye see the misery ay the world as it is, and ye cannae anesthaetise yirsel against it.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "Relapsing: Cock Problems" (Chapter 2, Story 4).
Trainspotting (1993)

“Ah suppose man, ah'm too much ay a perfectionist, ken? It's likesay, if things go a bit dodgy, ah jist cannae be bothered, y'know?”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Spud, "Speedy Recruitment".
Trainspotting (1993)

“Ah've never felt anything about countries, other than total disgust. They should fuckin abolish the lot of them. Kill every fuckin parasite politician that ever mouthed lies and fascist platitudes in a shell-suit and a smarmy smile.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "London Crawling".
Trainspotting (1993)

“He had noted that with older people. They often try to control younger, more popular and vivacious people; usually due to the fact that they are jealous of the qualities the younger people have and they lack. These inadequacies are disguised with a benign, protective attitude.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "The First Shag in Ages".
Trainspotting (1993)

“The only people that ever made a difference to Billy were the Provos, and they were cunts as well. Ah've no illusions aboot them as freedom fighters. The bastards made ma brar intae a pile ay cat food. But they jist pulled the switch. His death was concieved of by these Orange cunts, comin through every July with thir sashes and flutes, fillin Billy's stupid head with nonsense aboot crown and country and aw that garbage. They'll go home chuffed fae the day. They kin tell aw thir mates aboot how one ay the family died, murdered by the IRA, while defending Ulster. It'll fuel thir pointless anger, get them bought drinks in pubs, and help establish their doss-bastard credibility wi other sectarian arseholes.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "Bang to Rites".
Trainspotting (1993)

Similar authors

Irvine Welsh photo

Irvine Welsh 41

Scottish novelist 1958

A. J. Cronin photo

A. J. Cronin 7

Scottish novelist and physician

Bill Shankly photo

Bill Shankly 5

Scottish footballer and manager

Henri Barbusse photo

Henri Barbusse 197

French novelist

Erich Maria Remarque photo

Erich Maria Remarque 63

German novelist

John Galsworthy photo

John Galsworthy 48

English novelist and playwright

Christopher Morley photo

Christopher Morley 30

American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet

João Guimarães Rosa photo

João Guimarães Rosa 1

Brazilian novelist

Marcel Proust photo

Marcel Proust 41

French novelist, critic, and essayist

Cesare Pavese photo

Cesare Pavese 137

Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator

Similar authors

Irvine Welsh photo

Irvine Welsh 41

Scottish novelist 1958

A. J. Cronin photo

A. J. Cronin 7

Scottish novelist and physician

Bill Shankly photo

Bill Shankly 5

Scottish footballer and manager

Henri Barbusse photo

Henri Barbusse 197

French novelist

Erich Maria Remarque photo

Erich Maria Remarque 63

German novelist