Scots were yesterday asked to put forward their favourite quote to be etched for posterity on the wall of the Scottish Parliament.

To mark the 10th anniversary of devolution, a new quotation will be added to the Canongate Wall, which forms part of the boundary of the Holyrood building and already features 24 quotations of relevance to Scotland and the parliament.

Members of the public are now being asked to suggest a piece of writing by a living, deceased, or even anonymous writer that highlights ideas or values relevant to Scotland.

It could also mean the first quote known to be from a female going on the wall when the new addition is unveiled on St Andrew's Day this year.

Carved on a range of Scottish stones by Gillian Forbes and Martin Reilly, the existing quotations range from well-loved pieces of poetry to proverbs and psalms. There are quotations in English, Gaelic and Scots, and many of Scotland's leading writers are represented.

A panel of literary experts will discuss possible suggestions for the new quotation over the coming months.

Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson MSP launched the hunt to find a new addition to the wall yesterday.

He said: "The Canongate Wall was always supposed to be a living wall, one that we would add to when the time was right. We believe that as we approach our 10th anniversary, that time is now.

"We are asking people to nominate a well-loved or significant piece of writing that is relevant for Scotland, perhaps something that expresses how they feel about Scotland, what it means to be Scottish, or hopes for the future."

Submissions of no more than 50 words should be entered to the Scottish Parliament by 5pm on Monday August 31, or posted on www.scottish.parliament.uk/ canongatewall Margaret Curran, Labour MSP for Baillieston, said of the lack of women writers on the wall: "Isn't it disappointing that after the promise of the Scottish Parliament, women are still forgotten about?

"In this new modern parliament that so many women worked hard to achieve, and with one of the highest level of female representation, we don't recognise the achievements of women such as Muriel Spark, Janice Galloway or Jackie Kay.

"In the words of Liz Lochhead: My language is female coloured as well as Scottish coloured.' The parliament's should be too."

Ms Galloway said yesterday: "My first thought was that's absolutely bloody typical', which suggests I am both appalled and unsurprised.

"It's infuriating, of course. It's saddening. But it's not unpredictable."

The selection panel comprises MSPs Robin Harper, Ted Brocklebank, Patricia Ferguson, Ian McKee, Jeremy Purvis, Robyn Marsack, director of the Scottish Poetry Library; Marion Bourbouze of the Scottish Book Trust; and Professor Douglas Dunn.

Professor Dunn, a poet, said his favourite already on the wall was Burns's A Man's A Man for A' That.

He said: "I don't think I need to say much about Robert Burns, he has been so much in the news in the last 250 years. I'm choosing that as my favourite because it is international in its scope ... and stays off parochialism." Write lines: the 24 quotations

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 There is hope in honest error; None in the icy perfections of the mere stylist.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Bright is the ring of words.

Robert Louis Stevenson Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.

Alasdair Gray When we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament-men o' our ain, we could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns - But naebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon.

Sir Walter Scott Sweet ghosts in a loving band Roam through the houses that stand - For the builders are not gone.

George Macdonald Put all your eggs into one basket - and then watch that basket.

Andrew Carnegie What a lovely, lovely moon.

And it's in the constituency too.

Alan Jackson From the lone sheiling of the misty island Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas - Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland, And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.

Anonymous "Canadian Boat Song" Is i Alba nan Gall's nan Gaidheal is gàire is blàth is beatha dhomh.

It is Scotland, Highland and Lowland that is laughter and warmth and life for me.

George Campbell Hay The rose of all the world is not for me.

I want for my part Only the little white rose of Scotland That smells sharp and sweet - and breaks the heart.

Hugh MacDiarmid O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us!

It wad frae monie a blunder free us An' foolish notion.

Robert Burns But Edinburgh is a mad god's dream Fitful and dark, Unseizable in Leith And wildered by the Forth, But irresistibly at last Cleaving to sombre heights Of passionate imagining Till stonily, From soaring battlements, Earth eyes Eternity.

Hugh MacDiarmid Abair ach beagan is abair gu math e.

Say but little and say it well.

Proverb So, cam' all ye at hame wi' freedom Never heed whit the hoodies croak for doom In your hoose a' the bairns o' Adam Can find breid, barley bree an' painted room.

Hamish Henderson This is my country, The land that begat me.

These windy spaces Are surely my own.

And those who toil here In the sweat of their faces Are flesh of my flesh, And bone of my bone.

Sir Alexander Gray Tell us about last night well, we had a wee ferintosh and we lay on the quiraing. it was pure strontian!

Edwin Morgan The battle for conservation will go on endlessly. It is part of the universal battle between right and wrong.

John Muir Then let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that) That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth, Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.

For a' that, an' a' that, It's coming yet for a' that, That Man to Man the world o'er, Shall brithers be for a' that.

Robert Burns What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Am fear as fheàrr a chuireas S e as fheàrr a bhuineas.

He who sowest best reapest best.

Proverb To promise is ae thing, to keep it is anither.

Proverb (I knew a very wise man who believed that) if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.

Andrew Fletcher Scotland small? Our multiform, our infinite Scotland small?

Hugh MacDiarmid

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