{"author":"Alexander McCall Smith","author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith","total_quotes":151,"quotes":[{"text":"That of all people, it should be him; that took her aback. That the heart should settle on somebody like him; that surprised her. But she was so certain about it, so certain.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["intuition","love","surprise"],"id":921,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"To lose your own language was like forgetting your mother, and as sad, in a way.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["language","native-tongue"],"id":4780,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"When people ask for advice they very rarely want your advice and will go ahead and do what they want to do anyway, no matter what you say. That applied in every sort of case; it was a human truth of universal application, but one which most people knew little or nothing about.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["advice"],"id":6802,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"So it was perfectly possible that there were men who liked shopping, men who understood exactly what it was all about, but Mma Ramotwe had yet to meet such a man. Maybe they existed elsewhere - in France, perhaps - but they did not seem to be much in evidence in Botswana.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["french","humour","mma-ramotswe"],"id":6818,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"This was a townscape raised in the teeth of cold winds from the east; a city of winding cobbled streets and haughty pillars; a city of dark nights and candlelight, and intellect.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["candlelight","city","edinburgh","intellect"],"id":16412,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"Anybody can lose,' cautioned Mr J.L.B. Matekoni. 'You need to remember that every time you win.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["winning"],"id":23731,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"She believed in getting as much use as possible from everything, and thought that as long as machinery, or anything else, could be cajoled into operation, it should be kept; to do otherwise, she thought, was wasteful.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["africa","repair","reuse"],"id":23846,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"And then the second thing you have to do is go and see your son. That is a duty of love, Andrew. It's as simple as that. A duty of love. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["ruminative-and-wise","witty"],"id":25634,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"Gracious acceptance is an art - an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.... Accepting another person's gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["friends","giving","receiving"],"id":30110,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"},{"text":"We chose younger and younger politicians to lead us because they looked good on television and were sharp. But really we should be looking for wisdom, and choosing people who had acquired it; and such people, in general, looked bad on television - gray, lined, thoughtful.","author":"Alexander McCall Smith","tags":["old-age","politicians","television","youth"],"id":30464,"author_id":"Alexander+McCall+Smith"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":151,"pages":16,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}