John of John Quotes

“I have to have something to show at the end of this life. If I’m for hell, then I deserve a love that was worth it.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“what men know and what men admit to knowing to be very different things.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“The idea that you were kinder to your kin was untrue, because his father said things to him and treated him in ways that he would never dream of with any other human. The worst boss in the world was always a father.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“What’s the point of being alive if you don’t try to kill yourself now and again.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“Islands within islands," she muttered, "within islands, within islands.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“What’s the point of being nice, if it makes you so dishonest?”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“It was impossible to look at the unforgiving beauty and not feel the hand of God, albeit a God that cared nothing for your comfort, a God who expected you to struggle if you were to endure.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“It felt like there was a slow puncture in his chest but as he rubbed his breastbone, he couldn’t find the leak in order to put his hand over it.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“I find what men know and what men admit to knowing to be very different things.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“She could handle Glaswegians, men who roiled and churned, it was the quiet, loch-deep rage of the islanders she found terrifying.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“What’s it all for?”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“Maybe I’ve had more practice with lying to my father. We’re grown men, Innes, and if we want to be friends, if we want to have a couple of pints and look at sheep vans, then we should be able to do what we like. Besides, you invited him, and he said no. You asked for his help and he refused you.” “Yes.” He straightened up. “Yes, he refused me. Of course. You’re right.” “Then tell your face.” Innes rubbed his face and for a moment it almost worked.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“He leant against the window and watched the barren hillsides. It was impossible to look at the unforgiving beauty and not feel the hand of God, albeit a God that cared nothing for your comfort, a God who expected you to struggle if you were to endure.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“It’s a particularly English talent, that. The ability to visit foreign places and yet always think of yourself as the most interesting thing there.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“He thought about the life that he had tied himself to so that Cal had something to tie himself to, and now that Cal didn’t want it, he realised that he hadn’t wanted it either.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“Cal cleared the lunch things while John went upstairs and changed out of his visiting clothes. He put the bowls down for the dog and Tick did such a thorough job of licking them clean that Cal put them back in the cupboard without washing them.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“Sorry to spoil your dreams with dreams of my own.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“And heartbreak is a madness.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“the world’s not so bad.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“he wouldn’t lose an argument to a man who couldn’t spell ‘unnecessary’.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“I could do without becoming known as the man who has a hugger for a son.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“All the cruelties he took as truths were now uncertain.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“This passive acceptance for whatever came your way was surely a sentiment sent north by English rule. It had to be. He found no hope in any of it. And yet here he was, stuck, unable to move forwards, accepting it.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“The truth arrived with a realisation that knocked the breath from him. He didn't want the world. Here is where he belonged. He wanted to shout: All I want from this world is someone to love, and here you are.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“Listen, son, if the women round here just left it, this place would be nothin’ but men living in caves, scowling out at the sea.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“These tears were not how men cried for their friends.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts: he wanted to be four deep at a bar, strangers pressing in on every side of him, the music so loud he couldn't hear himself think.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“Cal knew that his father could not move forwards into truth and there was no way to call him on his lies, to have him deconstruct himself now.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“He had been raised to be fearful of intimacy. It was a fear seeded through scripture and nourished by the horrors he saw on the evening news, all those biblical images of gaunt, sunken-eyed men, covered in sores and dying alone. As a boy, he had sat at the back of the church as the men discussed this plague in their prayer meetings. They took no pleasure in the suffering but there remained an Old Testament comfort in it. Here was evidence that the wages of sin was indeed hell on”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John

“All the same. It was nice to be noticed.”
― Douglas Stuart, John of John