"Aye, we'll pay for this tomorrow."

Early in life, I was drawn to my mother's Irish heritage: the gregariousness, the music, the beer.

Now, at my age, I feel my father's Scottish side emerging more with each passing year: the thrift, the morbid streak, the golf. Came across this on NRO's The Corner:

1) A story from a reader: "On an unusually clear summer day, we were walking on a countryside road [in Scotland]. We passed another gentleman, and remarked to him what a nice day it was. 'Aye,' he said, 'we'll pay for this tomorrow.'"

(2) Dr. Johnson:

(2a) "The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!" (Boswell: Life)

(2b) "What enemy would invade Scotland, where there is nothing to be got?" (Boswell: Life)

(2c) Asked by a Scot what Johnson thought of Scotland: "That it is a very vile country, to be sure, Sir" "Well, Sir! (replies the Scot, somewhat mortified), God made it." Johnson: "Certainly he did; but we must always remember that he made it for Scotchmen, and comparisons are odious, Mr. S———; but God made hell." (Piozzi: Anecdotes)

(2d) "Knowledge was divided among the Scots, like bread in a besieged town, to every man a mouthful, to no man a bellyful." (Piozzi: Anecdotes)

(2e) Mr. Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had taken possession of a barren part of America, and wondered why they would choose it. Johnson: "Why, Sir, all barrenness is comparative. The Scotch would not know it to be barren." Boswell: "Come, come, he is flattering the English. You have now been in Scotland, Sir, and say if you did not see meat and drink enough there." Johnson: "Why yes, Sir; meat and drink enough to give the inhabitants sufficient strength to run away from home." (Boswell: Life)

(2f) At dinner, Mrs. Thrale expressed a wish to go and see Scotland. Johnson: "Seeing Scotland, Madam, is only seeing a worse England. It is seeing the flower gradually fade away to the naked stalk." (Boswell: Life)

(2g) "Your country consists of two things, stone and water. There is, indeed, a little earth above the stone in some places, but a very little; and the stone is always appearing. It is like a man in rags; the naked skin is still peeping out." (Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides)

(2h) At St. Andrews Mr. Boswell found only one [tree], and recommended it to my notice; I told him it was rough and low, or looked as if I thought so. This, said he, is nothing to another a few miles off. I was still less delighted to hear that another tree was not to be seen nearer. Nay, said a gentleman that stood by, I know but of this and that tree in the county." (Johnson: Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland)

(2i) "He that travels in the Highlands may easily saturate his soul with intelligence, if he will acquiesce in the first account. The highlander gives to every question an answer so prompt and peremptory, that skepticism itself is dared into silence, and the mind sinks before the bold reporter in unresisting credulity; but, if a second question be ventured, it breaks the enchantment; for it is immediately discovered, that what was told so confidently was told at hazard, and that such fearlessness of assertion was either the sport of negligence, or the refuge of ignorance." (Johnson: Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland)