The Literature Network - Inspiring words of a Scot that are a counterblast to the 'cringe'

Inspiring words of a Scot that are a counterblast to the 'cringe'

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From: The Scotsman
Date: 20060725
Author:Stephen McGinty

OSCAR Wilde, struck by a witticism uttered by James Whistler, exclaimed: "I wish I had said that." Proving that his quick wit wasn't a one-off, the American painter replied: "You will, Oscar, you will."

The appropriation of quotations by writers may be common during their lifetime, but is rarer still once the coffin lid creaks shut. So it was with genuine surprise and no small surge of national pride that I discovered, last week, that one of my favourite quotes belongs not to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Germany's Shakespeare, but to a source closer to home.

The quote is as ...

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