Alexander McCall Smith Quotes

Moral beauty existed as clearly as any other form of beauty and perhaps that was where we could find the God who was so vividly, and sometimes bizarrely, described in our noisy religious explanations. It was an intriguing thought, as it meant that a concert could be a spiritual experience, a secular painting a religious icon, a beguiling face a passing angel.

Alexander McCall Smith

She had argued for a broad interpretation, which imposed a duty to answer questions truthfully, and not to hide facts which could give a different complexion to a matter, but on subsequent thought she had revised her position.Although she still believed that one should be frank in answers to questions, this duty arose only where there was an obligation, based on a reasonable expectation, to make a full disclosure. There was no duty to reveal everything in response to a casual question by one who had no right to the information.

Alexander McCall Smith

We should be careful of the insults we fling at others, lest they return and land at our feet, newly minted to apply to those who had first coined them.

Alexander McCall Smith

There was a distinction between lying and telling half-truths, but it was a very narrow one.

Alexander McCall Smith

So the small things came into their own: small acts of helping others, if one could; small ways of making one's own life better: acts of love, acts of tea, acts of laughter. Clever people might laugh at such simplicity, but, she asked herself, what was their own solution?

Alexander McCall Smith

The previously unloved may find it hard to believe that they are now loved; that is such a miracle, they feel; such a miracle.

Alexander McCall Smith

Oh I love gadgets and I pride myself on keeping at the cutting edge of technology.

Alexander McCall Smith

My wife Elizabeth and I started The Really Terrible Orchestra for people like us who are pretty hopeless musicians who would like to play in an orchestra. It has been a great success. We give performances we've become the most famous bad orchestra in the world.

Alexander McCall Smith

I think people in Botswana are pleased that my books paint a positive picture of their lives and portray the country as being very special. They've made a great success of their country, and the people are fed up with the constant reporting of only the problems and poverty of the continent. They welcome something which puts the positive side.

Alexander McCall Smith

It's through the small things that we develop our moral imagination, so that we can understand the sufferings of others.

Alexander McCall Smith

But you cannot expect every writer to dwell on human suffering. I think my books do deal with grave issues. People who say they are too positive probably haven't read them.

Alexander McCall Smith

It seems to me that we're in danger of losing sight of certain basic civic values in society by allowing the growth of a whole generation of people who really have no sense of attachment to society.

Alexander McCall Smith

One of the most destructive things that's happening in modern society is that we are losing our sense of the bonds that bind people together - which can lead to nightmares of social collapse.

Alexander McCall Smith

Manners are the basic building blocks of civil society.

Alexander McCall Smith

My Botswana books are positive, and I've never really sought to deny that. They are positive. They present a very positive picture of the country. And I think that that is perfectly defensible given that there is so much written about Africa which is entirely negative.

Alexander McCall Smith

Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age.

Alexander McCall Smith

I've also long since realized that the way to really engage children is to give out prizes it's amazing how it concentrates their minds.

Alexander McCall Smith