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"41 Alexander McCall Smith Quotes & Sayings

      British     /     View profile
Born: 24 August 1948 | Writer |

It is sometimes easier to be happy if you don't know everything.

Sometimes easier Be happy Don't know Everything
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We all know that it is women who make the decisions, but we have to let men think that the decisions are theirs. It is an act of kindness on the part of women.

Women Make The decision Let men
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The telling of a story, like virtually everything in this life, was always made all the easier by a cup of tea.

The telling Story Virtually everything In life
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Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself

Be content Where You are Whatever you
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A life without stories would be no life at all. And stories bound us, did they not, one to another, the living to the dead, people to animals, people to the land?

A life Stories Bound us The living
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But don't we often lie to people we love, or not tell them things, precisely because we love them?

Often lie People We love Tell them
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Every man has a map in his heart of his own country and that the heart will never allow you to forget this map

Every man A map His heart Own country
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great things may come from moments of nothingness.

Great things May come Moment Nothingness
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There are many women whose lives would be immeasurably improved by widowhood, but one should not always point that out.

Many women Whose lives Immeasurably improved Widowhood
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There is room in history for all of us.

Room In history
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I am just a tiny person in Africa, but there is a place for me, and for everybody, to sit down on this earth and touch it and call it their own.

Tiny person A place Everybody Sit down
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The previously unloved may find it hard to believe that they are now loved; that is such a miracle, they feel; such a miracle.

Previously unloved Believe Now loved Miracle
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Special things have a way of surviving.
Special things Have Surviving
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You are a lucky lady to be marrying a man who can fix things. Most husbands just break things.

Lucky lady Marrying A man Fix things
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You have to leave your heart to get on with it. It's rather like breathing. We don't have to remind ourselves to breathe.

Leave Your heart Breathing Don't have
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There was a distinction between lying and telling half-truths, but it was a very narrow one.

Distinction Lying Telling half-truth Narrow one
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How many of us are happy to be exactly where we are at any moment?...only the completely happy think that they are in the correct place.

How many Are happy Any moment Completely happy
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The point about love, the essential point, was that we loved what we loved. We did not choose. We just loved.

The point About love What Not choose
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If you take God out of it, then right and justice become small, human things. And weak things too.

Take God Then right Justice Become small
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The danger, of course, is that we spend time imagining that we would be happier elsewhere, and forget to cultivate happiness where fate has placed us.

The danger Spend time Imagining Happier elsewhere
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the thought crossed her mind that a bed was really a very strange thing-a human nest, really, where our human fragility made its nightly demands for comfort and cosseting

The thought Crossed Mind Bed
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When you are with somebody you love the smallest, smallest things can be so important, so amusing because love transforms the world, everything. And was that what had happened?

Somebody Smallest things So important Love transforms
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International business, once allowed to stalk uncontrolled, killed the local, the small, the quirky.

International business Once allowed Stalk uncontrolled Killed
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There was no need for words, for there are times when words can only hint at what the heart would wish to say.

No need For words Times Only hint
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Myth could be as sustaining as reality - sometimes even more so.

Myth Sustaining As reality Sometimes
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We never realize how transparent we are.

We never Realize How transparent
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I told him that if a man is born in a dry place, then although he may dream of rain, he does not want too much, and that he will not mind the sun that beats down and down.

A man Born Dry place May dream
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I think that the measure of whether a life has been a good one is how much love there has been in that life--love both given and received.

I think The measure Life Good one
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Everything is possible in love. In the heart of each of us there can be many rooms, and sometimes there are.

Everything Is possible In love The heart
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You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life.

Help everybody At least Came into Your life
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The new lover, of a few weeks standing, may seem more precious than friends of decades.

New lover Few weeks More precious Friends
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You cannot make somebody love something. They must have love in their heart first.

Make somebody Love something Heart first
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That's the curious thing about love, isn't it? It makes very ordinary things seem special. It makes them seem so much more valuable than they really are.

Curious thing About love Very ordinary Seem special
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has it ever occurred to people that love at first sight might be the rule rather than the exception? How many people fall in love gradually rather than on the first occasion they meet the other person?

Ever occurred People Love First sight
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It is my duty to help them solve the mysteries in their lives. That is what I am called to do.

My duty Help them Solve The mysteries
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The young rarely believe that they will not be able to get what they want, because there is always an open future.

Young rarely Believe Be able Get what
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it must be odd to have no ambition, not to want something more.

Be odd Have No ambition Something more
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She remembered love, though, and a feeling of warmth. It was like remembering light, or the glow that sometimes persists after a light has gone out.
Remembered love Feeling Warmth Light
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Women, as usual, were expected to behave better than men, and inevitably attracted criticism for doing things that men were licensed to do with impunity.

Women Were expected Behave better Than men
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There's a difference, I think, between falling in love and knowing it.

A difference Failing In love Knowing it
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How many of us are happy to be exactly where we are at any moment?

How many Happy Be exactly Where
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Alexander McCall Smith Quotes & Sayings