Irvine Welsh Quotes

I am never happy with what I do, so I try not to watch stuff that is filmed with me in it because I am always like, 'Oh, I could have done that a little bit better,' or, 'I could have done that differently - that riff could have been a little better.'

I felt that some of my work was OK. If I could do it over, I'd do better.

Well, once we finish something, I can't really listen to it because all I hear are problems.

All I can say is I did the best I could, and I didn't do well enough on many occasions.

When I look back, I think I could have done this scene or that better. I am not satisfied with my work at all. I think I could have done better. I am never satisfied.

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.

I wish I could do a lot of things different. I'm not going to tell you what they are, but if I had a list of all my films right now, I'd go, 'Okay, I'll cross that one out and cross that one out and cross that one out and cross that one out.' Really. But I've made over 40 films. How can I not have some losers in there?

It wouldn't be New Year's if I didn't have regrets.

When I was younger, before I was married and had children, I really was nit-picky, a perfectionist. I was very much into different people's approval. I had too much time on my hands, I think.

What you dislike in another take care to correct in yourself.

So when I go home, sometimes, even when I had an amazing game, I always think about what I missed.

You finish a movie and you think, there, you've done it, really well, or best you can. But if you watch it, you see it was just bollocks.

I'm never happy with what I've written. You imagine, before you start, there's a cathedral, and the moment it starts on the page, it's a garden shed. And then you just try to make it the best shed you can.

I'd love to retouch my whole life.

In regards to the reaction to Life Is Killing Me, I would say that I'm never happy about anything.

I'm a perfectionist, so I always feel there's room for improvement.

To admit you want to have a comeback means you have to admit you weren't what you were supposed to be. You dropped below your own standard.

The deepest personal defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become.

I would not have done much differently, but I would have loved to have done everything better. The truth is, I think I was just getting warmed up when the era ended.

30 years and 55 pictures - not more than five that were any good, or any good for me.

I always see where I didn't do things the right way. I only see the heavy lifting. That's a bit of my wisdom, if you want to call it that.

There is always a 'but' in this imperfect world.

There are always things you wish you could've done better, and there are always things that you wish would've turned out a different way in terms of storyline, which you're not in charge of.

People talk about you won four national championships. Well, I feel like we've had good enough teams to win eight. So I feel like we failed four times. I feel like I failed four times.

I'm grateful for my time in New England. It taught me a lot. It just didn't gel out how I wanted.