Quotes from Alexander McCall Smith

William closed his eyes in sheer ecstasy. "Look, I know it's absolutely no notice at all, but would you by any chance be free for dinner tonight?" he asked. Again there was a silence. And then, once again, came the words to boost any heart—even that of a middle-aged wine dealer, a failed Master of Wine, and a failed everything else—"What a lovely idea! Yes, of course.

Non omnis moriar, said Horace's Odes—I shall not wholly die. Yes, and he was right. As long as people remembered, then death was not complete. Only if there were nobody at all left to remember would death be complete.

I can't, Tofu," said Bertie. "I can't join the cubs." Tofu was dismissive of Bertie's protestation. "You can't? Why? Is it because you think you'll fail the medical examination? There isn't one. That's the army you're thinking of. The cubs will take anyone – even somebody like you.

He had been looking in quite the wrong place-a place of darkness-when he should have been looking in a place of light.

In spite of her limited stature, Mma Pula-Pula had about her a strong confident air of authority. But it was not authority of the sort that one would encounter in a school principal or a magistrate or somebody of that sort: this was the authority of the bully.

It was all a question of face, she decided: you had to leave room for face to be saved.

He sounds very unworldly," replied Ulf. "From what I heard the other night, he doesn't really know what's going on. He's a philosopher, you see.

That investment had held its value, as had the other major asset in the aunt's estate that now passed to Nicola—a small pie factory in Glasgow. This factory, formerly trading under the name Pies for Protestants Ltd but now called Inclusive Pies, employed no more than three people.

Mma Ramotswe being sad was like a day with no sun, a day with no birdsong at dawn, a day without tea…One could go on, but the essential thing was that Mma Ramotswe should not look sad.

Why, she asked herself, why keep a wound open when forgiveness can close it?

These days people seemed to suggest that you should talk about everything, even those things that people never talked about in the past, but did this make life any easier? She was not sure. In fact, she thought there were occasions on which talking about distressing things merely kept those things alive, whereas not talking about them, consigning them to the past, forgetting them, allowed one to think about things that were positive, things that made the world a bit better.

But then one thing you did learn with the passage of time was not to ask too many questions. That was the difference, she decided, between being twenty and being forty. That, and other things, of course.

They might have pictures of skulls on the backs of their leather jackets, but in their case these were really pictures of their last X-ray rather than threats.

Even Ulysses," said Nicola. "Babies love Scotch Pies over in Glasgow. That's what they feed them over there." "Do they give them Irn Bru in their baby bottles?" asked Bertie. Nicola smiled. "Possibly, Bertie. They do a lot of things differently in Glasgow. It's a city of great character.

People, she said, generally wanted other people to believe the things they did, and would punish those who deviated...There were many such snares placed in the way of the unwary, and the consequence of inattention to the enforced wisdom of the times could be a medieval public shaming.

And it was not surprising, perhaps, that he should feel it—this little boy who felt things so deeply; for we all feel that about our friends; we all feel that about those around whom we might put an arm. We all feel that about the darkness into which we go with others and about the very understandable fears that can be so easily dispelled, put to flight, by a simple gesture

But it had not occurred to him to praise her, because in his view she was just doing her duty as a woman and there was nothing special about that." (pg.34)

Contemplating this vast human suffering, you might be tempted to shrug your shoulders, but you could not.

Everything could always be worse,' she would say, 'and so be grateful that things are only as bad as they are.' She

It is I who will beat her if she tries anything. I am a traditionally built lady, you know, and if there are any bad people who try to push me around—or to beat me—then I can sit on them very quickly. And if I do that, then they cannot breathe—all the air goes out of their lungs and they cry out, 'I am not

Now that he had invited Tilly, William found himself trying to remember what she looked like. It was almost like going on a blind date, he thought, something that previously he would never have dreamed of doing but he now found rather exciting. She was certainly attractive, he was sure of that, even if he had seen her only once, and for a very brief period.

Perhaps they could get married in heaven, if he left it too late. That would certainly be cheaper.

Cover hatred and fear with love and delight, and with innocent things...The proponents of confrontation, violence, the acerbic comment, laughed at the innocent things, thought them naive, considered them beneath them. How easy it was to destroy the civilised structures of the world; how easy to poison the wells.

A moral dilemma is equally absorbing whether the stakes are the destiny of nations or the happiness of one or two people - at the most.