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b587c64
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It would be wonderful, she thought, to write a book which would help other people.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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d25d677
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There are plenty of people who might prefer to go sideways. What about them? How are we to inspire them?
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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d71b684
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what moved me was that I had found something I didn't think could exist. And that thing - the thing that I found - was very simple. Most people know all about it and have never really doubted it because their lives have been such as to give them a glimpse of the thing that they were not sure about, which is love, of course: the sheer fact of feeling of love for another, of finding the one person - the only person, it seems - who makes the w..
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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c7897ab
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The country must be full of liars," she continued. "There must be liars around every corner. Liars hiding behind every bush. Liars just waiting to tell lies about something. Unrepentant liars. Old liars, young liars; perhaps even babies whose first word is a lie. Perhaps"
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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c60875d
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Trust your nose, but make sure it's pointing in the right direction.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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e2b2869
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the finding of a cargo of whisky was, in a sense, like the finding by the Israelites of manna in the wilderness. And
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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9f33547
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Perhaps they could get married in heaven, if he left it too late. That would certainly be cheaper.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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ffd23ef
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people in Canada talk about feeling solitude? They sometimes call it a country of solitudes.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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f3a1680
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that is how marriages take place. If you left it up to men, they would never get there. Nobody would be married. You have to remind men to get married.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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f4408be
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But that miracle would eventually arrive, as it always had, and the landscape would turn from brown to green within hours under the kiss of the rain. And there were other colours that would follow the green; yellows, blues, reds would appear in patches across the veld as if great cakes of dye had been crumbled and scattered by an unseen hand.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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862006e
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It was an innocent enough activity, after all; like looking at the sky, perhaps, when the sun was going down and had made the clouds copper-red, or looking at a herd of fine cattle moving slowly over the land when rains had brought on the sweet green grass. These were pleasures which the soul needed from time to time, and she would wait for Mma Makutsi until she had examined the shoes from all angles.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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9637ed4
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Yes, but not in chairs that don't belong to us," countered Mma Makutsi. "That's the trouble with this country, Mma--there are too many people sitting down in other people's chairs." --
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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97d3009
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It was another of Mma Makutsi's odd statements--utterly unfounded in fact, Mma Ramotswe suspected, but not a point that she wished to argue. As far as she was concerned, if a chair was empty, then anybody should be welcome to sit in it. We should share our chairs, she felt. Maybe that was the real problem with the modern world--not enough of us were prepared to share our chairs.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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6d65132
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A woman sees more than a man sees. That is well-known.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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bfe7ac2
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No buts, Bertie. If you don't keep your promise then you'll get into serious trouble. Big time. You could go to prison, and then what? And there's God too. God watches these things and if he sees you breaking promises he can really get you. He does it all the time.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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aa83b31
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It is undoubtedly the case that the practice of the virtues makes one happier. We've somewhat lost sight of that essential truth, now that we, as a society, admire selfishness and vanity so much.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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80a9ded
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He looked up from his stew. "Mma Ramotswe," he said, "you can do anything. Nothing is too hard for a person like you--nothing. You are very good at doing everything, Mma, and anything you do, Mma"
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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f77377b
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He represents innocence, and innocence has taken such a profound battering in our times. We have mocked it. We have sullied it. We have put it in intensive care, and frankly, I don't see how it can survive. And yet here and there one sees flickers of its light - just flickers. And so we know that innocence isn't entirely dead." Angus"
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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b1a1605
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He shows the most amazing brass neck," she said."
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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7787e71
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People were only too ready to believe things that were manifestly untrue. When it came to remarks that portrayed others in a bad light, people were happy to believe things that showed others to be weak or flawed in some way: we believed that of them because it made us feel better; it was as simple as that.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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c4b5914
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People punish themselves--sometimes for years. But it's not always necessary. Forgiveness allows everybody to start again, not to be burdened with a whole lot of old business.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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30899f8
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a word, as often happens, can be like a musical worm in the mind and invite repetition. But
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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6ac851f
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Arbroath
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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3b92444
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That's precisely what I'm saying: in order to become better people, we must practise," Isabel said."
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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1605451
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people are very slow to say sorry. I
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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5eb23a2
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She is a good housemother, that one," said Mma Ramotswe. Mma Potokwane agreed. "Whenever I hear people say that the country is going to the dogs--and there are such people, you know, Mma..."
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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c62237a
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Could you say that your business had expanded if it had gone from owning one teapot to two? Somehow
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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5970a9c
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of the large numbers of people who applied for jobs, and she wondered how employers managed to select from such a wide field. Was everyone interviewed? And even if that happened, how did one distinguish one applicant from another when they all probably had roughly the same qualifications?
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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cc32c2d
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I think this bandage is not needed," said Mma Ramotswe, bending down to remove it. "Hospitals feel they have to put a bandage on anybody who goes there--just in case. Sometimes you get a bandage even if you are just visiting somebody."
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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b922e85
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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..
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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82ac316
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that was enough to make her blush with shame for the mere fact that Las Vegas existed. There
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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cd554ad
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Perhaps this was a concomitant of freedom: if people were free, then some of them, at least, would be free of the constraints of good taste. Perhaps
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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49eca9a
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Violins sang, brass crowed, while bassoons, she felt, rumbled according to a Richter scale all of their own. Charlie
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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a37c9f0
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That is important," said Mma Makutsi from behind her desk. "One does not want a lady who talks too much."
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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5132824
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YOU DO NOT CHANGE PEOPLE BY SHOUTING AT THEM
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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dc8a3c6
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He had very few criticisms to make of Precious Ramotswe, his wife and founder of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but if one were to make a list of her faults--which would be a minuscule document, barely visible, indeed, to the naked eye--one would perhaps have to include a tendency (only a slight tendency, of course) to claim that things that she happened to believe were well known.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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6c02524
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One of the drawbacks to being a philosopher was that you became aware of what you should not do, and
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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005c0d3
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But I do like the idea of household gods--shall we get some? A set of little statues and bring the boys up to believe in them?" "I hope they believe in something," said Elspeth. 'Imagaine believing in nothing at all--not even in love, or justice, or any of the things that can make people passionate." "Such as a country?" Elspeth thought about this. "I suppose there are lots of people who believe in Scotland. Or the European Union, for that ..
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passion
opinions
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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021ed67
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forgiveness of others allows us to adjust our feelings towards the past, assuages our anger. Our
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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86e8c8c
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There are indeed ducks in Blackford Pond." "On it," muttered Isabel. "What?" "On the pond. There are ducks on the pond. There are fish in it." Even as she spoke, Isabel had no idea why she was being so pedantic, and"
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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9981fa3
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Do not complain about your life. Do not blame others for things that you have brought upon yourself. 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.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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3dddd67
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Remember that, she said to herself; remember that in your dealings with others--they may be dying.
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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51f7c94
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There was corruption at every turn, and those who stood for honesty and integrity were more and more vulnerable, more and more isolated amongst the hordes of people who simply had no moral sense. And
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Alexander McCall Smith |
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9059139
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It was a good thing to be an African. There were terrible things that happened in Africa, things that brought shame and despair when one thought about them, but that was not all there was in Africa. However great the suffering of the people of Africa, however harrowing the cruelty and chaos brought about by soldiers--small boys with guns, really--there was still so much in Africa from which one could take real pride. There was the kindness,..
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suffering
kindness
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Alexander McCall Smith |