I'd heard of a man named Burns - supposed to be a poet;

But, if he was, how come I didn't know it?

They told me his work was very, very neat,

So I replied: 'But who did he ever beat?'

"God help England if she had no Scots to think for her."

George Bernard Shaw (a neutral Irishman)

"I'd sooner starve"

American actress Julia Roberts when asked if she would be tasting haggis during her visit.

"The art of making poison pleasant."

Dr Samuel Johnson, on whisky making.

"...I feel a sort of reverence in going over these scenes in this most beautiful country, which I am proud to call my own, where there was such devoted loyalty to the family of my ancestors - for Stuart blood is in my veins..."

Queen Victoria's journal entry in 1873.

"I have been trying all my life to like Scotchmen, and I am obligated to desist from the experiment in despair."

Charles Lamb, English 19th century essayist.

"Sit down, man. You're a bloody tragedy."

MP James Maxton to Ramsay MacDonald, making his last speech in parliament.