“That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Why should everybody embrace the herd instinct, which required one to regard one set of politicians as being always in the right… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
As a writer, I have readers who will have a range of political views. I don't think they look to me for… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“If we were all responsible for the misdeeds of the governments that represent us, thought Isabel, then the moral burden would be… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“We chose younger and younger politicians to lead us because they looked good on television and were sharp. But really we should… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Any extreme political creed brought only darkness in the long run; it lit up nothing. The best politics were those of caution,… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Now constipation was quite a different matter...It would be dreadful for the whole world to know about troubles of that nature. She… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“For a short while she considered the idea of orchestral courtesy. Certainly one should avoid giving political offence: German orchestras, of course,… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
Most people want nothing to happen. That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time;… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Waiting in the reception area, she had flicked through a news magazine that had been lying on the table for clients to… — Alexander McCall Smith Copy Share Image
“Of course not,” said Mma Makutsi. “There is nothing to be ashamed of in drinking one hundred cups of tea a week,… — 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
