"The air increased in transparency with the lapse of minutes, till the topaz points showed themselves to be the vanes, windows, wet roof slates, and other shining spots upon the spires..."
- Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure ... See MoreSee Less

"An hour wears away; the spires of the churches and roofs of the principal buildings are faintly tinged with the light of the rising sun, and the streets, by almost imperceptible degrees, begin to resume their bustle and animation."
- Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz ... See MoreSee Less

"High up in the steeple of an old church, far above the light and murmur of the town and far below the flying clouds that shadow it, is the wild and dreary place at night: and high up in the steeple of an old church, dwelt the Chimes I tell of."
- Charles Dickens, The Chimes ... See MoreSee Less

"The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything!"
- Bram Stoker, Dracula ... See MoreSee Less

"In this one valley, where the life of the town goes most busily forward, there may be seen, shown one above and behind another by the accidents of the ground, buildings in almost every style upon the globe."
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes ... See MoreSee Less

"He had known terror in a dream, but it was the terror of the summit, where wind whistled."
- William Golding, The Spire ... See MoreSee Less

"In Edinburgh, a large open street, or rather oblong square, surrounded by high houses, called the Grassmarket, was used for the same melancholy purpose."
- Walter Scott, The Heart of MidLothian ... See MoreSee Less

"This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth ... See MoreSee Less

"The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Rainy Day ... See MoreSee Less

"At the violet hour, when the eyes and back
Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits
Like a taxi throbbing waiting..."
- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land ... See MoreSee Less

I noticed from a recent comments that people are rejecting the Glasgow cone thing making its way to Edinburgh. How do we feel about it?

I have been documenting the crimes. ... See MoreSee Less

"And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains."
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias ... See MoreSee Less

"Yesterday evening during a walk every little street noise, every glance directed at me, every photograph in a display case was more important to me than I was."
- Franz Kafka, Diaries ... See MoreSee Less

"There is no Edinburgh emigrant, far or near, from China to Peru, but he or she carries some lively pictures of the mind, some sunset behind the Castle cliffs, some snow scene, some maze of city lamps, indelible in the memory and delightful to study in the intervals of toil."
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes ... See MoreSee Less

"The city is built
To music, therefore never built at all,
And therefore built for ever."
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette ... See MoreSee Less