A historic referendum on Thursday will decide if Scotland gains independence. Rival camps are set to slug it out until the last minute in a bid to win over voters.

Here's what some key politicians and celebrities have had to say:

YES

"The talking is nearly done. The campaigns will have had their say. What's left is just us - the people who live and work here. The only people with a vote. The people who matter.

"Wake up on Friday morning to the first day of a better country. Wake up knowing you did this - you made it happen."

"It's about taking your country's future into your hands. Don't let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Don't let them tell us we can't. Let's do this."

- Scotland First Minister and Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond

"With just a cross of a box on Sept 18, we can provide ourselves and our children a brighter, more positive and prosperous future. Decisions about the future of Scotland are best made by the people who care most about Scotland - the people who live and work here.

"Unlike Westminster, when we vote for our first independent Scottish parliament in 2016, we'll be guaranteed the government we vote for."

"We can choose to go down a different path: to make sure important decisions about Scotland are made here in Scotland - not by Tory governments we didn't vote for.

"On Sept 18, the people of Scotland will answer the most important question of a generation: should Scotland be an independent country? I believe that it is best for Scotland to vote Yes."

- Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins

"The 'Yes' campaign has centred on a positive vision for Scotland. It is rooted in inclusiveness, equality and that core democratic value that the people of Scotland are the best guardians of their own future."

- Scottish actor Sean Connery

"The future could be just amazing and Scotland would be very important and an influence on the world."

- Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood

"I can't see any reason why Scotland shouldn't be independent. It's a different country with different attitudes, people and outlook, so why not?"

- Scottish actor Gerard Butler

- Scottish tennis player Andy Murray

"Independence will do both Scotland and England a lot better in the long run - it will suit them both being apart. Scotland has different issues to sort out: sectarian uprising, violence, poverty."

- Scottish author Irvine Welsh

"The YES campaign for Scottish independence is, to me, the epitome of hope, optimism and positivity and I believe that independence is best for Scotland."

- Scottish actor Alan Cumming

NO

"I speak for millions of people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland - and many in Scotland, too - who would be utterly heartbroken by the break up of the United Kingdom, utterly heartbroken to wake up on Friday morning to the end of the country we love."

"Independence would not be a trial separation. It would be a painful divorce."

"If you don't like me, I won't be here forever. If you don't like this government, it won't last forever. But if you leave the UK, it will be forever."

- Conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron

"This is forever, this will affect not only future generations of people in Scotland, it will affect he world that my children inhabit, my grandchildren, it will affect everybody forever, across the whole of the United Kingdom. I cannot think of a bigger question facing us all."

"Whatever the result, even if Scotland votes to remain part of the UK, the status quo is gone, not only for Scotland but for the whole of the United Kingdom. In my view we will be entering into not only a very exciting new chapter of devolution of powers to Scotland, we will also be entering into a very exciting new chapter of decentralisation and devolution throughout the rest of the UK, including England as well."

- Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

"Don't choose an irreversible decision. From the head, the heart and the soul, vote for Britain staying together."

- Labour leader Ed Miliband

"We created a United Kingdom minimum wage, a United Kingdom public health service, a United Kingdom welfare state. What we progressives have created over the last century, let no nationalist split asunder."

- Former prime minister Gordon Brown

"... And Scotland, stay with us."

- Singer David Bowie

"My hesitance at embracing independence has nothing to do with lack of belief in Scotland's remarkable people or its achievements. The simple truth is that Scotland is subject to the same twenty-first century pressures as the rest of the world.

"It must compete in the same global markets, defend itself from the same threats and navigate what still feels like a fragile economic recovery. The more I listen to the Yes campaign, the more I worry about its minimisation and even denial of risks."

- Author JK Rowling

"I find it difficult to accept it when borders are still causing so many problems. Why insist on building a new border between human beings in an ever-shrinking world where we are still struggling to live alongside each other?"

- British actress Emma Thompson

"We want to let you know how very much we value our relationship and friendship. ... What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let's stay together."

- Former England football captain David Beckham

"Eight hundred thousand Scots, like me, live and work in other parts of the United Kingdom. We don't live in a foreign country; we are just in another part of the family of the UK."

- Former Manchester United football manager Alex Ferguson