Life Quotes by Alexander McCall Smith

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

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

“...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

“You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life.”

— Alexander McCall Smith

Simple questions--and simple answers--were what we needed in life. That was what Mma Ramotswe believed. Yes.

— Alexander McCall Smith

If you lose sight of the smaller accomplishments , you end up with an imbalance in your life.

— Alexander McCall Smith

I see no point in being despondent. We might as well enjoy ourselves during our brief tenure of this life.

— Alexander McCall Smith

“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

“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

“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

“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

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

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

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

“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

“ Charity begins at home. Was that a narrow, selfish adage or was it simply an inescapable, bedrock fact of life in…

— Alexander McCall Smith

“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

“..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

“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

“(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

“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

“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

“...thinking about somebody every day of his life... oh yes, he said to himself. Oh yes, you do. You think about somebody.…

— Alexander McCall Smith

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

Life consists of positive and negative features, and I think that it is permissible to write about both.

— Alexander McCall Smith

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

“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

The local community is very important in one's life; the feelings of identification with a place and people.

— Alexander McCall Smith

“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

“There were times when life’s problems were convincingly outweighed by its possibilities, and this, she felt, was one.”

— Alexander McCall Smith

That my philosophy of life is, as far as possible, one of enjoyment. I'm not nihilistic.

— Alexander McCall Smith

“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

“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

It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved…

— Alexander McCall Smith

“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

“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