Quotes from Filth

Irvine Welsh ·  393 pages

Rating: (19.1K votes)


“We wait and think and doubt and hate. How does it make you feel? The overwhelming feeling is rage. We hate ourself for being unable to be other than what we are. Unable to be better. We feel rage. The feelings must be followed. It doesn't matter whether you're an ideologue or a sensualist, you follow the stimuli thinking that they're your signposts to the promised land. But they are nothing of the kind. What they are is rocks to navigate the past, each on your brush against, ripping you a little more open and they are always more on the horizon. But you can't face up to the that, so you force yourself to believe the bullshit of those you instinctively know are liars and you repeat those lies to yourself and to others, hoping that by repeating them often and fervently enough you'll attain the godlike status we accord those who tell the lies most frequently and most passionately. But you never do, and even if you could, you wouldn't value it, you'd realise that nobody believes in heroes any more. We know that they only want to sell us something we don't really want and keep from us what we really do need. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we're getting in touch with our condition at last. It's horrible how we always die alone, but no worse than living alone.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“You can only live in the world you ken. The rest is just wishful thinking or paranoia.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“I love doubt in a woman. It's nearly as sexy as determination.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Bruce, you’re an ugly and silly old man. You’re very possibly an alcoholic and God knows what else. You’re the type of sad case who preys on vulnerable, weak and stupid women in order to boost his own shattered ego. You’re a mess. You’ve gone wrong somewhere pal.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“All I can think about is that boy’s skull, bashed in, the way his head was caved in and how it wasn’t like a heid at all, just like a broken silly puppet face, about how when you destroy something, when you brutalise it, it always looks warped and disfigured and slightly unreal and unhuman and that’s what makes it easier for you to go on brutalising it, go on fucking it and hurting it and mashing until you’ve destroyed it completely, proving that destruction is natural in the human spirit, that nature has devices to enable us to destroy, to make it easier for us; a way of making righteous people who want to act do things without the fear of consequence, a way of making us less than human, as we break the laws . . .”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth



“How did it make you feel?”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“When I get home I take some sleeping pills and within what seemed like half an hour of unconsciousness it was Monday morning again.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Can you taste it Bruce? Can you taste the filth, the dirt, the oily blackness of that fossil fuel in our mouth as you choke and gag and spit it out? Do you still hear his voice in your head urging you to eat? Eat, eat eat. Your mother's cries. Do you hear them? You should be Bruce. Because I know that it's never left you alone. Now you can eat what you want to eat. For me, for you, for all the others. Now you can consume to your heart's content or your soul's destruction, whichever comes first. So eat.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Are you asking me or telling me?”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Gillman smiles, in the cold manner of an assassin. It's like looking in the mirror.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth



“I reach into my bag and I pull out my claw hammer.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“That’s the beauty aboot being polis: it doesnae really matter whether or not everybody hates you, as long as they’re civil tae your face and can put up a good front. You can only live in the world you ken. The rest is just wishful thinking or paranoia.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“The town is mobbed out with Saturday shoppers looking for Christmas bargains. You can almost breathe in the raw greed which hangs in the air like vapour. As the late afternoon darkness falls, the lights look tacky and sinister.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Why did I join the force? I repeat, - Oh I'd have to say that it was due to police oppression. I'd witnessed it within my own community and decided that it was something I wanted to be part of, I smile.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“A standing prick hath no conscience. And if that standing prick is attached to Bruce Robertson then it hath less than no conscience. You can't afford a conscience in this life, that has become a luxury for the rich and a social ball and chain for the rest of us. Even if I wanted one, which I certainly do not, I wouldn't have the faintest idea as how to go about getting one.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth



“But here, just at this point: this is limbo. There is the sense that if you stay at this point for too long, stop at this point of oblivion for a certain amount of time, you will just cease to exist. And we cannot move.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“As the late afternoon darkness falls, the lights look tacky and sinister.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“The trouble with people like him is that they think that they can brush off people like me. Like I was nothing. They don't understand the type of world we're living in now, all those menaced souls clamouring for attention and recognition.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“He was a very arrogant young man, so full of himself.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“You pushed me away mister. You rejected me. You tricked me and spoiled things between me and my true love. I've seen you before. Long ago, just lying there as you are now. Black, broken, dying, I was glad then and I'm glad now.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth



“There's no fear or regret but no elation or sense of triumph either. It's just a job that had to be done.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Hay un punto en este túnel, el punto al que acabamos de llegar, donde dobla y no se ve la luz del final ni tampoco la ves si miras atrás. Un par de pasos hacia el frente y brilla la luz y un par de pasos atrás y un vistazo por encima del hombro y es la misma historia. Pero aquí, justo en este punto: es el limbo. Da la sensación de que si te quedas demasiado tiempo en este punto, si te detienes en este punto del olvido durante cierto tiempo, sencillamente dejarás de existir.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


“Clell, Gillman and I are joined by the wee chinky bird with the toff's English-Yank accent. It keeps fuckin well changing. Probably been tae posh schools all over the world. I hate those privileged cunts. They think that you're fuck all, that they can use you tae clean up their shite, and in fact, most of the time they are spot-on. What they don't know though, is that you're always lurking in the shadows. The opportunity to pounce usually never comes along but you're always lurking, always ready. Just in case.”
― Irvine Welsh, quote from Filth


About the author

Irvine Welsh
Born place: in Leith, Scotland
Born date September 27, 1958
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“There is no length to love; it's infinite. It lives in you always. Hold on to it.”
― Staci Hart, quote from A Thousand Letters


“He’s my brother. You don’t turn away from someone like him just because he likes dick instead of the good stuff.” I chuckle. “You certainly haven’t lost your way with words.”
― T.J. Klune, quote from Bear, Otter, and the Kid


“The clockwork octopus came out. It extended a tentacle with a clicking of metal joints. Around it was looped the chain of his watch. He hesitated, but took it. The chain skittered over the metal tentacle with a high, thin pitch like incoming sea. It was quite a coincidence for a mechanical sea creature and he was speculating whether it could possibly have been done on purpose when Katsu stole his other sock and flopped on to the floor with an unbiological bang, whereupon it octopused out of the open door and slid down the banister. He exclaimed at it, was ignored, and then went after it just in time to see it disappear into the parlour. It was climbing up the leg of the piano stool when he caught up. The watchmaker confiscated the sock and threw it over his shoulder to Thaniel, who caught it with the tips of his fingers. The octopus settled in his lap. ‘Thank you for finding him,’ he said. Against the piano keys, his hands were too warmly coloured for the watery morning. ‘I was looking for him earlier. He plays hide and seek.”
― Natasha Pulley, quote from The Watchmaker of Filigree Street


“Because I refused to live invincibly on all the days”
― Adam Silvera, quote from They Both Die at the End


“We’re only pretending everything is normal because we don’t know what else to do.”
― Naomi Alderman, quote from The Power


Interesting books

The First Law Trilogy
(6.3K)
The First Law Trilog...
by Joe Abercrombie
Rootless
(1K)
Rootless
by Chris Howard
The Summer of Skinny Dipping
(7.3K)
The Summer of Skinny...
by Amanda Howells
Persian Girls
(2.9K)
Persian Girls
by Nahid Rachlin
The Karma Club
(3K)
The Karma Club
by Jessica Brody
History of the Russian Revolution
(1.2K)
History of the Russi...
by Leon Trotsky

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.