“I think that the measure of whether a life has been a good one is how much love there has been in… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
I see no point in being despondent. We might as well enjoy ourselves during our brief tenure of this life. — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
We should be careful of the insults we fling at others, lest they return and land at our feet, newly minted to… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
A life without stories would be no life at all. And stories bound us, did they not, one to another, the living… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
That my philosophy of life is, as far as possible, one of enjoyment. I'm not nihilistic. — 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
“Self-doubt was a luxury, as, perhaps, was the examined life. And yet the examined life, as the adage had it, was the… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“When we dismiss or deny the hopes of others, she thought, we forget that they, like us, have only one chance in… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“If efficiency were the only value in this life, then we would be content to eat bland but nutritious food every day--and… — 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
Well, I'd say all of us are a combination of moods and emotions. In my day to day life I don't go… — 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
“Like so many women, her life seemed to be all about the needs of others. Auden had said something about that, she… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“In bed that night, in the darkness, with the illuminated dial of her alarm clock glowing from the bedside table, she asked… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
You can go through life and make new friends every year - every month practically - but there was never any substitute… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Animals, like people, did not ask to be who or what they were, and to make life difficult for others simply for… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“There were few other passengers: a man in an overcoat, his head sunk against his chest; a couple with arms around each… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“(Mma Ramotswe thinking about what her father taught her…) “Having the right approach to life was a great gift in this life….Do… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Many waters cannot quench love: the anthem's setting remained in her ears, repeating itself; a tune so powerful that it might gird… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Regular maps have few surprises: their contour lines reveal where the Andes are, and are reasonably clear. More precious, though, are the… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“..what moved me was that I had found something I didn't think could exist. And that thing - the thing that I… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“She would have wished for the suffering of Africa to be relieved, to be legislated out of existence, but it seemed that… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“These days people seemed to suggest that you should talk about everything, even those things that people never talked about in the… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“In bed that night, in the darkness, with the illuminated dial of her alarm clock glowing from the bedside table, she asked… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“You may think this a strange story, but it is not. There are people whose lives are every bit as unusual as… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“They realized that belief of whatever sort-whether it was the faith in History and the State, as in the shattered halls of… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Mma Ramotswe had listened to a World Service broadcast on her radio one day which had simply taken her breath away. It… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
The local community is very important in one's life; the feelings of identification with a place and people. — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Life consists of positive and negative features, and I think that it is permissible to write about both. — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
The telling of a story, like virtually everything in this life, was always made all the easier by a cup of tea. — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Something terrible happened and people began to shake. It was the reminder that frightened them; the reminder of just how close to… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Go to any small village anywhere in the world, and see what they remember. Everything. It's all there -- passed on like… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“She knew that for many people this was their greatest ambition: to have a partner and a child, to live the domestic… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Of course you could not allow yourself to think too much about these issues. One had to get on and to attend… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
If you lose sight of the smaller accomplishments , you end up with an imbalance in your life. — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Simple questions--and simple answers--were what we needed in life. That was what Mma Ramotswe believed. Yes. — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“...She was, in fact, often wrong--and knew it. Life became difficult when those who were often wrong did not know it.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Every novel presents a slice of life. A noir policier for example presents one slice, one that perhaps addresses social dysfunction or… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Hospitals were to her a memento mori in bricks and mortar; an awful reminder of the inevitable end that was coming to… — 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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“Because laughs never die away entirely,” said Jamie. “At least, if you believe in Marconi.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“The trouble with having a conscience, she said to herself, is that it never sleeps.” — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
