“How many of us are happy to be exactly where we are at any moment?” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“The young rarely believe that they will not be able to get what they want, because there is always an open future.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“That, said Isabel, is the most painful feature of lost love. you wonder what the other person is doing. Right at this… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Our minds can come up with the most entertaining possibilities, if we let them. But most of the time, we keep them… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
How many of us are happy to be exactly where we are at any moment?...only the completely happy think that they are… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“There are awkward moments from which one can retreat, and awkward moments from which there is no escape.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Do not act meanly, do not be unkind, because the time for setting things right may pass before your heart changes course.… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“It was easy, terribly easy, to become with time a middle-aged spinster with a sharp tongue. She would have to guard against… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“There was no need for words, for there are times when words can only hint at what the heart would wish to… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“And he thought for a moment how stupid our society had become, that its nanny-like concern for risk should prevent one man… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
I write four books a year. I'm very fortunate that I write quickly; around 3,500 words a day. Being strict about delineating… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Every single day, I get letters - very moving, overwhelming letters - testifying how much my books have meant to people in… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“The world was an imperfect place--as the events of the last few days had demonstrated--but within that vale of tears there were… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“We act out our lives to a soundtrack, thought Isabel, the music that becomes, for a spell, out favourite and is listened… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
But we make such mistakes all the time, all through our lives. Wisdom, I suppose, is seeing this and acting upon it… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“By the time Domenica arrived at the Gothic Revival sandstone building on Queen Street, she had put out of her mind all… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“there were occasions on which talking about distressing things merely kept those things alive, whereas not talking about them, consigning them to… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“So it was in Botswana, almost everywhere; ties of kinship, no matter how attenuated by distance or time, linked one person to… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“She hoped that her baby was happy and would be waiting for her when she herself left Botswana and went to heaven.… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“And she, Isabel, had gone along with this and all the time what was happening was she was becoming increasingly possessive of… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“There were times when an apology was best, she thought, even when one really had nothing to apologise for. If only people… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“And Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni was at that moment on the verge of an exceptionally important thought, even though its final shape had… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Surely it is better, thought Domenica, that forty-five should buy the book and actually read it, than should many thousands, indeed millions,… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“His sixth year, it seemed to him, had lasted a remarkably long time and there were points at which he frankly wondered… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“For a moment, Isabel's eyes met those of someone looking out of the window, a thin-faced woman with her hair done up… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Teachers were not allowed to beat children as they did in the past, although, Mma Ramotswe reflected, there were some boys-and indeed… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“You can only wear one pair of shoes at a time,” she said. “Rich people are like the rest of us—two feet,… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“the fear of what might happen in the future is almost always worse than the future that eventually arrives.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“People did not spend enough time sitting and talking, she thought, and it was important that sitting and talking time be preserved.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“None of us knows how we will cope with snakes until the moment arises, and then most of us find out that… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“There were times when life’s problems were convincingly outweighed by its possibilities, and this, she felt, was one.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“He knew that one should not punch people who annoyed one, although there was a case for it at times, a seemingly… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“But if you do not forgive, and you think all the time about getting even, or punishing somebody who has done you… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“French philosophers had been able to admire Mao and his works because they did not have to live in China at the… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Yes," she agreed, "there are times when I am unhappy and times when I am happy. There are more happy times than… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“The danger, of course, is that we spend time imagining that we would be happier elsewhere, and forget to cultivate happiness where… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Fiction is able to encompass books that are bleak and which dwell on the manifold and terrible problems of our times. But… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“These men were like leeches; they sucked away at the goodness of a woman's heart until it was dry and all her… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“old-fashioned, gentle Scottish physician, unmoved by the considerations of profit and personal gain that could so disfigure medicine. That doctors should consider themselves businessmen… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“She had not made a lot of money, but she had not made a loss, and she had been happy and entertained. That counted… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
And that, in a way, was the burden of being a philosopher: one knew what one had to do, but it was so often… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“To use strong language, she thought, was a sign of bad temper and lack of concern for others. Such people were not clever or… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“Men are very sensitive, Mma Makutsi. You would not always think it to look at them, but they are. They do not like you… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“He is a good man, but even a good man can fall for a glamorous woman. That is well known.” “That is very well… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“And then the second thing you have to do is go and see your son. That is a duty of love, Andrew. It's as… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“Because laughs never die away entirely,” said Jamie. “At least, if you believe in Marconi.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“The trouble with having a conscience, she said to herself, is that it never sleeps.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“And if there's bad behaviour," Mma Potokwane went on. "If there's bad behaviour, the quickest way of stopping it is to give more love.… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“Has he not got a wife back wherever he comes from? Is there no wife to say, ‘You must not go off and visit… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“He looked at her in the darkness, at this woman who was everything to him-mother, Africa, wisdom, understanding, good things to eat, pumpkins, chicken,… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“It is because you are generous in spirit; and may I be like that; may I become like you—which unrealistic wish, to become the… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
“Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni,” she asked, “do you think that our souls grow as we get older?” He did not answer immediately, but when he did,… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share
