Isabel Dalhousie Quotes

“Look at those clouds," said Jamie, gazing up at the sky. "Look at them."
"Yes," said Isabel. "They're very beautiful, aren't they? Clouds are very beautiful and yet so often we fail to appreciate them properly. We should do that. We should look at them and think about how lucky we are to have them."
"Look at the shape of the clouds," she said. "What do you see in those beautiful clouds, Jamie?"
"I see you," he said.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds

“Out in Saxe-Coburg Street she stood still for a moment and looked at the gardens. He kissed me, she thought. He made the move; I didn't. The thought was an overwhelming one and invested the everyday world about her, the world of the square, of trees, of people walking by, with a curious glow, a chiaroscuro which made everything precious. It was the feeling, she imagined, that one had when one vouchsafed a vision. Everything is changed, becomes more blessed, making the humblest of surroundings a holy place.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Right Attitude to Rain

“Undisclosed failings, she thought; that great weight we all carry around with us, some of us for all our lives, unable to speak about them, unable -- involuntary Atlases all -- to share the burden.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Charming Quirks of Others