Alexander Mccall Smith Quotes

“That young man will go far, she said. I don’t know in what direction, but he will go far.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“Can you forgive her? Can you do that?
There was no response.
Because if you can start to forgive, then it will become easier.
And?
And then you will be able to forgive yourself—and ask others to forgive you.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“It shall be an offence for any man, either a husband or other person of the male sex, married or otherwise, being over the age of twelve years, to throw any item of clothing having been worn by the said person for whatever length of time, upon the floor of any bathroom or any room adjacent to and connected to a bathroom, without good cause.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“You must not think that because one thing happens after another thing, then it is the first thing that causes the second thing. You must not think that, because it might not be true.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“She was proud of her build, which was in accordance with the old Botswana ideas of beauty, and she would not pander to the modern idea of slenderness. That was an importation from elsewhere, and it was simply wrong. How could a very thin woman do all the things that women needed to do: to carry children on their backs, to pound maize into flour out at the lands or the cattle post, to cart around the things of the household—the pots and pans and buckets of water? And how could a thin woman comfort a man? It would be very awkward for a man to share his bed with a person who was all angles and bone, whereas a traditionally built lady would be like an extra pillow on which a man coming home tired from his work might rest his weary head. To do all that you needed a bit of bulk, and thin people simply did not have that.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“Why not imagine a talk with a pumpkin? Why not imagine going off for a drive with a friendly pumpkin, a companion who would not, after all, answer back; who would agree with everything you said, and would at the end of the day appear on your plate as a final gesture of friendship?”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“She had always understood that love could have an intense physical effect; could fill a space somewhere in the chest, could turn knees weak, could raise the pulse; could intoxicate, just as could a strong martini or a glass of champagne. Could, she thought, and would…but only if you allowed it, only if you opened whatever portals of the heart needed to be opened. And some people, of course, found it difficult to do that.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“People don’t talk about mercy very much these days—it has a rather old-fashioned ring to it. but it exists and its power is quite extraordinary”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“Human history seems to me to be one long story of people sweeping down—or up, I suppose—replacing other people in the process.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Novel Habits of Happiness

“The winds must come from somewhere when they blow…There must be reasons why the leaves decay.
(From Auden's "If I Could Tell You”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Novel Habits of Happiness

“We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be so much harder than giving.”
― Anne Bogel, Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life

“If a person acts out of character, then there’s one thing you can be sure of: there is something wrong. I have seen this so many times I have lost count.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“…photographs on a wall were there for people to see and to examine if interested; an album is a different thing…”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“There are broad shoulders, the saying went, even where there are no broad shoulders.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

“What we have, we all must lose—that applied to everything, even to that which we thought we had the greatest right. We were tenants of this earth—nothing more.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“Class reunions were about curiosity; about satisfaction at the avoidance of the mistakes of one’s contemporaries, now revealed in their emerging life histories; about reflecting on the ravages—and injustices—of time; and of realizing, perhaps, how strange and random are the twists and turns of fate.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“Unless we do something about the past, she thought, then it will weigh us down to such an extent that we simply cannot move. Is that what I want?”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“The juvenile adage Never kiss and tell had a sound moral instinct behind it.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“…people decided what they thought and would not be moved, not even by the most patient, the most rational argument.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“Tolerance was like one of those soothing creams—it drew out inflammation, it did away with the pain.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“…the world was a vale of tears—it always had been.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“…there is faith and faith. One form of faith is actual practice—the rituals and so on—the other form of faith involves actually believing in it.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“The reunion, she decided, was an unnecessary and stressful complication to life. We did not need to reheat cold dishes from the past.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“…reunions, she felt, were not much more than a scratching at the vague itch of memory. And like scratching, they rarely helped—indeed, scratching often made matters worse, as any dermatologist would tell you.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, At the Reunion Buffet

“…did it make a difference if the remark never got back to the person about whom it was made? She thought not. The harm is done when the words are uttered: that is the act of belittlement, the act of diminishing the other, and it is that act which would cause pain to the victim. You said that about me? The wrong was located in the making of the cruel remark, rather than in the pain it might later cause.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Novel Habits of Happiness

“…one of those dreadful boarding schools. It was down on the South Coast. I think some very unpleasant things happened there…. So many lives were distorted by such cruelty. I know so many men who had to put up with that, so many….”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Novel Habits of Happiness

“…one of the coasts of a country that was a lifeboat, and that lifeboat was under siege by people who wanted to be taken on board. She thought to the southern shores of Italy and the boats that came up from the south, crammed with the desperate of North Africa striving to get into Europe. The vessels capsized under their human cargo; there were people in the water, their dream coming to a watery end. How could one turn one’s face against all of that? What sort of person would one have to be to sail past?”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Novel Habits of Happiness

“... i cuori degli uomini che sono molto lontani dal loro Paese sono pieni di tristezze.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

“«Siamo quelle che per prime hanno arato la terra quando Modise (Dio) la creò», recitava un antico poema setswana. «Noi siamo quelle che preparano il cibo. Noi siamo quelle che badano agli uomini quando sono ancora bambini, quando sono giovanotti e quando sono vecchi e in procinto di morire. Noi ci siamo sempre. Ma siamo solo donne, e nessuno ci vede.»”
― Alexander McCall Smith

“Love was a form of blindness that closed eyes of the most glaring faults. You could love a murderer, and simply not believe that your lover would do so much as crush a tick, let alone kill somebody.” (Pg.46)”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency