“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.”

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

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Alexander McCall Smith55

British writer 1948

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

Alexander McCall Smith (1948) British writer

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

“…and what gets me out of bed in the mornings continues to be the expectation of what might happen, all unannounced. I'm always expecting the unexpected, and I still fantasise about what might still be.”

Javier Marías (1951) Spanish writer

...y lo que me hace levantarme por las mañanas sigue siendo la espera de lo que está por llegar y no se anuncia, es la espera de lo inesperado, y no ceso de fantasear con lo que ha de venir.
Source: Todas las Almas [All Souls] (1989), p. 137

“One might think you knew all about witches, to hear you chatter. But your words prove you to be very ignorant of the subject. You may find good people and bad people in the world; and so, I suppose, you may find good witches and bad witches.”

L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) Children's writer, editor, journalist, screenwriter

"The Witchcraft of Mary-Marie", in Baum's American Fairy Tales (1908)
Short stories
Context: "But what can I do?" cried she, spreading out her arms helplessly. "I can not hew down trees, as my father used; and in all this end of the king's domain there is nothing else to be done. For there are so many shepherds that no more are needed, and so many tillers of the soil that no more can find employment. Ah, I have tried; hut no one wants a weak girl like me."
"Why don't you become a witch?" asked the man.
"Me!" gasped Mary-Marie, amazed. "A witch!"
"Why not?” he inquired, as if surprised.
"Well," said the girl, laughing. "I'm not old enough. Witches, you know, are withered dried-up old hags."
"Oh, not at all!" returned the stranger.
"And they sell their souls to Satan, in return for a knowledge of witchcraft," continued Mary-Marie more seriously.
"Stuff and nonsense!" cried the stranger angrily.
“And all the enjoyment they get in life is riding broomsticks through the air on dark nights," declared the girl.
"Well, well, well!" said the old man in an astonished tone. "One might think you knew all about witches, to hear you chatter. But your words prove you to be very ignorant of the subject. You may find good people and bad people in the world; and so, I suppose, you may find good witches and bad witches. But I must confess most of the witches I have known were very respectable, indeed, and famous for their kind actions."
"Oh. I'd like to be that kind of witch!" said Mary-Marie, clasping her hands earnestly.