Alexander McCall Smith: Trending quotes (page 3)

“Pat looked up at the cornice. "I’m on a gap year," she said, and added, because truth required it after all: "It’s my second gap year, actually." Bruce stared at her, and then burst out laughing. "Your second gap year?" Pat nodded. She felt miserable. Everybody said that. Everybody said that because they had no idea of what had happened. "My first one was a disaster," she said. "So I started again."”

Alexander McCall Smith book 44 Scotland Street

44 Scotland Street, chapter 1.
The 44 Scotland Street series

Truth , Idea

“We think the world is ours forever, but we are little more than squatters.”

Alexander McCall Smith book The Careful Use of Compliments

The Careful Use of Compliments, chapter 1.
The Sunday Philosophy Club series

World , Thinking

“One might expect bad behaviour from existentialists – indeed that was what existentialism was all about, was it not? – but to find this happening on one’s own doorstep was a shock.”

Alexander McCall Smith

Love Over Scotland, chapter 50.
The 44 Scotland Street series

“The maid glanced at her employer. "Oh, you have heard of me," she said. "I am glad that he speaks of me. I would not like to think that nobody speaks of me." "No," said Mma Ramotswe. "It is better to be spoken of than not to be spoken of. Except sometimes, that is."”

Alexander McCall Smith book Tears of the Giraffe

Tears of the Giraffe, chapter 1.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

Thinking

“It would be wonderful to have a guru; it would be like having a social worker or a personal trainer, not that people who had either of these necessarily appreciated the advice they received.”

Alexander McCall Smith

Love Over Scotland, chapter 6.
The 44 Scotland Street series

People , Personality

“It’s very important to be able to accept things, you know. Gracious acceptance is an art – an art which most of never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.”

Alexander McCall Smith

Love Over Scotland, chapter 112.
The 44 Scotland Street series

Art , Thinking , Learning , Forgetting

“And that, in a way, was the burden of being a philosopher: one knew what one had to do, but it was so often the opposite of what one really wanted to do.”

Alexander McCall Smith book The Careful Use of Compliments

The Careful Use of Compliments, chapter 2.
The Sunday Philosophy Club series

Way

“The sentiment sounded trite, but then didn’t most good sentiments sound trite? It was hard to make goodness – and good people – sound interesting. Yet the good were worthy of note, of course, because they battled and that battle was a great story, whereas the evil were evil because of moral laziness, or weakness, and that was ultimately a dull and uninteresting affair.”

Alexander McCall Smith

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, chapter 3.
The Sunday Philosophy Club series

People , Evil

“Things can end badly, as they sometimes do in life. But if they do, then we know that something is wrong, just as we know it when a piece of music doesn’t resolve itself properly at the end. We know that. We just do. And so we prefer harmony.”

Alexander McCall Smith

Love Over Scotland, chapter 102.
The 44 Scotland Street series

Life , Music

“Everything you wanted to know about a person was written in the face, she believed. It’s not that she believed that the shape of the head was what counted– even if there were many who still clung to that belief; it was more a question of taking care to scrutinise the lines and the general look. And the eyes, of course; they were very important. The eyes allowed you to see right into a person, to penetrate their very essence, and that was why people with something to hide wore sunglasses indoors. They were the ones you had to watch very carefully.”

Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, chapter 1.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

People , Question , Personality

“They are a very great boon to mankind, dentists,’ said Isabel. ‘And I’m not sure that we are grateful enough to them. I’m not sure that we even bother to thank them.’ She paused. Were there any statues of dentists? She thought not. And yet there should be.”

Alexander McCall Smith book The Careful Use of Compliments

The Careful Use of Compliments, chapter 8.
The Sunday Philosophy Club series

“Our minds can come up with the most entertaining possibilities, if we let them. But most of the time, we keep them under far too close a check.”

Alexander McCall Smith book The Careful Use of Compliments

The Careful Use of Compliments, chapter 15.
The Sunday Philosophy Club series

Time

“What else does a detective agency really need? Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. No inventory would ever include those, of course.”

Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, chapter 1.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

Intelligence

“But we make such mistakes all the time, all through our lives. Wisdom, I suppose, is seeing this and acting upon it before it is too late. But it is often too late, isn’t it?”

Alexander McCall Smith

and those things that we should have said are unsaid, and remain unsaid for ever.
Love Over Scotland, chapter 96.
The 44 Scotland Street series

Time , Wisdom , Making love

“One might expect bad behaviour from existentialists – indeed that was what existentialism was all about, was it not?”

Alexander McCall Smith

but to find this happening on one’s own doorstep was a shock.
Love Over Scotland, chapter 50.
The 44 Scotland Street series

Bad luck