Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Alexander McCall Smith

Quote by Alexander McCall Smith

“Von Igelfeld wondered whether there was a moral obligation to read a letter. Surely the moral principles involved were the same as those which applied when somebody addressed a remark to one. One does not have to answer; but inevitably does.”

Quote by Alexander McCall Smith

Book:Portuguese Irregular Verbs
Create image

Work

Portuguese Irregular Verbs

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Alexander McCall Smith
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

You May Also Like

“We read the letters of the dead like helpless gods, but gods, nonetheless, since we know the dates that follow. We know which debts will never be repaid. Which widows will remarry with the corpse still warm. Poor dead, blindfolded dead, gullible, fallible, pathetically prudent. We see the faces people make behind their backs. We catch the sound of wills being ripped to shreds. The dead sit before us comically, as if on buttered bread, or frantically pursue the hats blown from their heads. Their bad taste, Napoleon, steam, electricity, their fatal remedies for curable diseases, their foolish apocalypse according to St. John, their counterfeit heaven on earth according to Jean-Jacques… We watch the pawns on their chessboards in silence, even though we see them three squares later. Everything the dead predicted has turned out completely different. Or a little bit different – which is to say, completely different. The most fervent of them gaze confidingly into our eyes: their calculations tell them that they’ll find perfection there.”

DeathLettersDeadHindsight
Book:View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems
Create image

“When you suffer, you are being conformed to the image of Jesus. When you pray, you are being made holy in the image of Jesus. When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.”

InspirationalGivingGodSufferingJesusChristChristianityLordPrayingJesus ChristCatholicismSaviorServing OthersImage Of Jesus
Book:Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church
Create image

“P.S.2. During the day, they are drilling us on passwords we will need in the jungle in case we run into a Japanese spy dressed like a USMC. One of them was "Who lost game 4 of the 1941 W. Series?" Half the guys said "Brooklyn" and the other half said "Mickey Owen" and the third half said "Tommy Henrich". Then some fist fights happened so they scrapped the question. But I told you so.”

HumorLettersBaseballWorld War Ii
Book:Last Days of Summer
Create image

“Mon dieu! — George Mallory! When that’s been written, what more need be said? My hand trembles, my heart palpitates, my whole being swoons away at the words — oh heavens! heavens! I found of course that he’d been absurdly maligned — he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face — ah, incredible — the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy . . . . For the rest, he’s going to be a schoolmaster, and his intelligence is not remarkable. What’s the need?”

HumorBeautyLettersHandsome MenGeorge Mallory
Book:The Letters of Lytton Strachey
Create image

“Have you been reading the letters of Rosa Luxemburg again, Donatella?’ Brunetti asked in a normal voice. She laughed her bright laugh, a sound he delighted in hearing because to be thought clever or amusing by this woman was, to Brunetti, a jewel of great price. ‘No dear, not recently. Besides, they’re very serious and filled with lofty thoughts about the inner contradictions of capitalism, and I’m too old to enjoy reading things like that.’ She gave him a level glance as though she were testing how far she could go – the same look he had sometimes been given by her daughter – and added, ‘And too rich.’ This time it was Brunetti who laughed.”

CapitalismLettersRosa LuxemburgLofty Thoughts
Book:Give Unto Others
Create image

“In retrospect it is scarcely believable that insulting letters passing between obscure people in a small town should result in four assize trials and two Court of Criminal Appeal hearings, and claim the time of a distinguished Scotland Yard officer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the senior Treasury Counsel.”

LettersTrialsLibels
Book:The Littlehampton Libels: A Miscarriage of Justice and a Mystery about Words in 1920s England
Create image