John Hodge > Quotes

“Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing you last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?”
― John Hodge, Trainspotting: A Screenplay

“They say that when a man is going to drown, when he finally gives up the struggle - it's sort of blissful, for a moment. And then he drowns.”
― John Hodge, Collaborators

“Sick Boy : It's certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life.
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : What do you mean?
Sick Boy : Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever. All walks of life: George Best, for example. Had it, lost it. Or David Bowie, or Lou Reed...
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : Some of his solo stuff's not bad.
Sick Boy : No, it's not bad, but it's not great either. And in your heart you kind of know that although it sounds all right, it's actually just shite.
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : So who else?
Sick Boy : Charlie Nicholas, David Niven, Malcolm McLaren, Elvis Presley...
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : OK, OK, so what's the point you're trying to make?
Sick Boy : All I'm trying to do is help you understand that The Name of The Rose is merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : What about The Untouchables?
Sick Boy : I don't rate that at all.
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : Despite the Academy Award?
Sick Boy : That means fuck all. Its a sympathy vote.
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : Right. So we all get old and then we can't hack it anymore. Is that it?
Sick Boy : Yeah.
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton : That's your theory?
Sick Boy : Yeah. Beautifully fucking illustrated.”
― John Hodge, Trainspotting: A Screenplay

“Relinquishing junk. Stage one, preparation. For this you will need one room which you will not leave. Soothing music. Tomato soup, ten tins of. Mushroom soup, eight tins of, for consumption cold. Ice cream, vanilla, one large tub of. Magnesia, milk of, one bottle. Paracetamol, mouthwash, vitamins. Mineral water, Lucozade, pornography. One mattress. One bucket for urine, one for feces and one for vomitus. One television and one bottle of Valium, which I've already procured from my mother, who is, in her own domestic and socially acceptable way also a drug addict. And now I'm ready. All I need is one final hit to soothe the pain while the Valium takes effect.”
― John Hodge, Trainspotting: A Screenplay