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Quote by Alexander McCall Smith

“We think the world is ours forever, but we are little more than squatters.”

Quote by Alexander McCall Smith

Book:The Careful Use of Compliments

Work

The Careful Use of Compliments

This book delves into the nuances of offering and receiving compliments, providing insights into how to use them constructively in various social and professional contexts. more

Author

Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith, born on August 24, 1948, is a renowned Scottish writer known for his light-hearted and thoughtful writing style. His most famous works include the 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series, which has gained him a wide readership around the world. more

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“And that, in a way, was the burden of being a philosopher: one knew what one had to do, but it was so often the opposite of what one really wanted to do.”

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Book:The Careful Use of Compliments

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“Our minds can come up with the most entertaining possibilities, if we let them. But most of the time, we keep them under far too close a check.”

Ifs Mind Possibility Come Up Checks Entertaining

Book:The Careful Use of Compliments

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“It would be wonderful to have a guru; it would be like having a social worker or a personal trainer, not that people who had either of these necessarily appreciated the advice they received.”

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Book:Love Over Scotland

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“The people with the strong, brave exteriors are just as weak and vulnerable as the rest of us. And of course they never admit to their childish practices, their moments of weakness or absurdity, and then the rest of us think that's how it should be.”

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“And how we become like our parents! How their scorned advice - based, we felt in our superiority, on prejudices and muddled folk wisdom - how their opinions are subsequently borne out by our own discoveries and sense of the world, one after one. And as this happens, we realise with increasing horror that proposition which we would never have entertained before: our mothers were right!”

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“But we make such mistakes all the time, all through our lives. Wisdom, I suppose, is seeing this and acting upon it before it is too late. But it is often too late, isn't it? - and those things that we should have said are unsaid, and remain unsaid for ever.”

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Book:Love Over Scotland

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“It is the mind which creates the world around us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.”

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Book:The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft

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“Old friends, like old shoes, are comfortable. But old shoes, unlike old friends, tend not to be supportive: it is easier to stumble and sprain an ankle while wearing a pair of old shoes than it is in new shoes, with their less yielding leather.”

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Book:The Unbearable Lightness of Scones

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“Any extreme political creed brought only darkness in the long run; it lit up nothing. The best politics were those of caution, tolerance and moderation, Angus maintained, but such politics were, alas, also very dull, and certainly moved nobody to poetry.”

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“Every small wrong, every minor act of cruelty, every act of petty bullying was symbolic of a greater wrong. And if we ignored these small things, then did it not blunt our outrage over the larger wrongs?”

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Book:The Unbearable Lightness of Scones

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones