Quoted By:
>The chiefest of these [dangers of our epoch] (so far is Scotland is concerned -- and the same thing is true of almost all other civilised countries) is the shameful, the catastrophic neglect by Scotsmen of their own country. We have come to regard the country as a site for development or a recreation for the towns, and against this poison I protest with all my might. My passion is for the reunion between Scotland and Scotsmen, and that can only be achieved by the restoration of the land not as a series of beauty spots but as a soil for growing things. Above all, whatever the limitations and difficulties of Scotland may be, it is necessary to insist that our great trouble (and the source of all our other troubles) is not on the material but on the spiritual plane, and that unless our idea of Scotland is deeply and truly enough laid, superficial efforts after rehabilitation can only register minor and relatively negligible successes. In Scotland -- mainland and islands alike -- it is this king-pin that is lacking and must be replaced.
Hugh MacDiarmid
