Top 160 Douglas Stuart Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 2 of 4

51. “Agnes Bain was too rare a thing to let someone else love. It wouldn’t do to leave pieces of her for another man to collect and repair later.”

— Douglas Stuart

52. “Agnes pulled the boy into her side, and he clung to her like a limpet.”

— Douglas Stuart

53. “From his real father he had inherited a gentle personality, quiet and pensive, lonesome and faraway.”

— Douglas Stuart

54. “Big Shug Bain had seemed so shiny in comparison to the Catholic. He had been vain in the way only Protestants were allowed to be, conspicuous with his shallow wealth, flushed pink with gluttony and waste.”

— Douglas Stuart

55. “It was a relief in the same way old people enjoyed having a child in the room, because it gave them something to fuss over when they had nothing left to say to each other.”

— Douglas Stuart

56. “Spell it,” said Jodie quickly. “Spell whut?” “Genetics.”

— Douglas Stuart

57. “As girls, they had clung to one another like a string of pearls and sang at the top of their voices all the way down Sauchiehall Street.”

— Douglas Stuart

58. “Shug would have liked to leave a sovereign print on his face.”

— Douglas Stuart

59. “It was a fresh start, she had thought, and hopefully a better class of alcoholic.”

— Douglas Stuart

60. “That was the problem with the young ones; they saw no reason to not expect better for themselves. She’d definitely have to go.”

— Douglas Stuart

61. “It was a nothing that felt like an everything.”

— Douglas Stuart

62. “Once upon a time the wind whipping off the sea had turned the front of her thighs blue with the cold, but Agnes couldn’t feel it because she had been happy.”

— Douglas Stuart

63. “The others tittered and went about ransacking the place with a sense of relief. There was nothing more shameful than being a poofter; powerless, soft as a woman.”

— Douglas Stuart

64. “The morning light was the colour of too-milky tea. It snuck into the bedsit like a sly ghost, crossing the carpet and inching slowly up his bare legs.”

— Douglas Stuart

65. “He hadn’t known that the sky could hold so many hues – or he hadn’t paid it any mind before. Did anyone in Glasgow look up?”

— Douglas Stuart

66. “They were happy with her alone, with her sobriety and the peace it brought.”

— Douglas Stuart

67. “Leek frowned at Shuggie, like he was angry at his hope, disappointed that Shuggie was stupid enough to still believe.”

— Douglas Stuart

68. “Mungo pulled his finger off the rusted nail. “I’m glad you are fixed, James. You’ve worked hard to get better. You deserve it.” “I’m not fixed, Mungo. Ah’m just a liar.”

— Douglas Stuart

69. “Mungo bent forward and lifted his sister off her feet. He wore her like a backpack and carried her, giggling, through to the narrow kitchenette. He dropped her in front of the electric cooker. “Feed me, woman.” Jodie extended two fingers and jabbed upwards into his ribs. “That shite doesn’t suit you. So don’t try it. Haaah-ha.”

— Douglas Stuart

70. “Shuggie watched her and said under his breath, “Why can’t I be enough?” But she wasn’t listening.”

— Douglas Stuart

71. “Her lips were almost always pursed, and her raisin-coloured eyes were constantly scanning the busy crowd for trouble. There was a calcified hardness to her now that she wore like armour and too often forgot to take off.”

— Douglas Stuart

72. “He knew now that he couldn’t keep his promise. He had lied to Agnes as she had lied to him about stopping the drink. She would never be able to get sober, and he, sat in the cold with a lovely girl, knew he would never feel quite like a normal boy.”

— Douglas Stuart

73. “Their donkey jackets were clean and their boots were still shiny as they jerked along the road. Shuggie stepped back as they passed, their heads lowered like those of tired black mules. Without a word, each man collected a handful of thin children, who followed obediently, like reverential shadows.”

— Douglas Stuart

74. “The teacher gave up yelling encouragement and tried insults instead. He was an old man but a fit, flinty one, a Scottish shinty champion in his day. When they banned the cane a few years before he thought he might give up teaching altogether. In the end it made little difference; after all the years of peering into the dark corners of little boys’ souls, he knew where real pain and motivation lay.”

— Douglas Stuart

75. “Whole housing estates of young men who were promised the working trades of their fathers had no future now. Men were losing their very masculinity.”

— Douglas Stuart

76. “The blood ran backwards into his nose and bubbled into his throat; he turned his head to the side and it poured out on to the grey ground in a great crimson custard. Shuggie couldn’t move as the boy sat on his chest and Francis stood on his free arm. He lay there making some gurgling noises as the blood collected in his throat. At least the crowd was delighted. Only then did the tears come.”

— Douglas Stuart

77. “Tattie-bogle believed that better things, brighter lights, bigger laughs were always happening to women who had no children.”

— Douglas Stuart

78. “Now, the years of sedentary taxi driving had taken what was already average and also made it round.”

— Douglas Stuart

79. “The ball sailed over them, and the other boys tore up the field like Shetland ponies, cantering as one and giving the impression they were scared to be separated. The teacher stopped at a trot. “Oi, you two ladies, when you are done having tea, how about you play some bloody fitba,” he barked.”

— Douglas Stuart

80. “Red-haired, stocky, and flat-faced, his head joined directly to his body as if a neck were an unnecessary luxury.”

— Douglas Stuart

81. “Shuggie put the phone back on the cradle and stood in the hallway, waiting for her to say something, anything. Agnes could have said anything then, and he would have taken it and he would have forgiven her.”

— Douglas Stuart

82. “It looked like the lager beauties sometimes did, a careless printer and a misaligned screen, and suddenly the woman was no longer whole, just a mess of different layers.”

— Douglas Stuart

83. “She’d looked as happy as he could ever remember, and he was surprised how this hurt. It was all for the red-headed man. He had done what Shuggie had been unable to do.”

— Douglas Stuart

84. “I had to see if you would actually come.” Agnes took hold of the neck of his jumper then. Shug picked up his money belt and kissed her with a forceful tongue. He had to squeeze all the small bones in her hands to get her to release him. She had loved him, and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good. Agnes Bain was too rare a thing to let someone else love. It wouldn’t do to leave pieces of her for another man to collect and repair later.”

— Douglas Stuart

85. “I’ve never liked those AA places. They attract the lowest kind of people. God gave you a will. You should use it to save yourself.”

— Douglas Stuart

86. “He was Mo-Maw’s youngest son, but he was also her confidant, her lady’s maid, and errand boy. He was her one flattering mirror, and her teenage diary, her electric blanket, her doormat. He was her best pal, the dog she hardly walked, and her greatest romance. He was her cheer on a dreich morning, the only laughter in her audience.”

— Douglas Stuart

87. “Shug smiled. She was only twenty-four and already his doormat. “I didnae think you were coming,” she said, climbing into the back of the taxi. “What did you call me out here fur?” “I missed ye, that’s all,” she said. “I haven’t seen ye in weeks.” She rolled her thick legs open and shut coquettishly. “You’ve no gone off o’ me, have ye?” She grinned.”

— Douglas Stuart

88. “The temptation was sweet; the possibilities hung in the air like a thousand doors.”

— Douglas Stuart

89. “Her brother had been gifted with legendary stubbornness; he just stared through you and floated away, leaving behind his frame to be pecked to pieces.”

— Douglas Stuart

90. “Shuggie sat there listening to them amuse themselves. He took the red football book and dropped it into the dark drawer of this strange school desk. He was glad, at least, to be done with that. It was clear now: nobody would get to be made brand new.”

— Douglas Stuart

91. “He rested his ear against the door and prayed for Eugene to stay, prayed that his mother would find strength to stay off the drink and be at peace. Then he prayed for God to make him normal for his birthday.”

— Douglas Stuart

92. “She thought about tilting further then, dared herself to do it. How easy it would be to kid herself that she was flying, until it became only falling and she broke herself on the concrete below.”

— Douglas Stuart

93. “I learnt how to start a fire. I learnt how to put bait on a hook.” “See!” Mo-Maw sounded like she was relieved. “That’s what ah telt our Jodie. That’s what ah wanted you to do this for. Masculine pursuits. It’ll make a man out of ye.”

— Douglas Stuart

94. “Before you cut yourself, you must have phoned him and told him to come get Shuggie. It all happened that fast. I couldn’t help you and help Shuggie.” Leek exhaled upwards, and his fringe rippled like a curtain in an open window. “It’s too much, Mammy. I can’t be the one to save everybody all the time.”

— Douglas Stuart

95. “She’s never going to get off the drink.” Shuggie was staring into the swampy broth. “She might. I just have to try harder to help her.”

— Douglas Stuart

96. “She had loved him, and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good.”

— Douglas Stuart

97. “Jodie reached her hand out to push his hair away and he stepped away from her. He could look at Jodie, but he wouldn’t let her touch him again. If Jodie, of all people, could not love him, all of him, perhaps he could not be loved.”

— Douglas Stuart

98. “The boy was heartbroken to watch them take joy in her misery. He died for the fear she might think he was now one of them, laughing down the phone at her. He thought about her wrists and the blood on the tea towels, and like a big baby he cried from frustration right there in front of them.”

— Douglas Stuart

99. “She thought of the happy hours parked under the Anderston overpass, happy hours before they really truly knew one another.”

— Douglas Stuart

100. “In the silence he listened to her cough through the stupor, then she retched and a trickle of thick bile appeared on her lips. Shuggie reached inside her jumper sleeve and took out her toilet paper, carefully enough not to wake her. With a practised finger he reached inside her mouth and hooked out the bronchial fluid and bile. He wiped her mouth clean and lowered her head safely back on to her left shoulder. There.”

— Douglas Stuart