I am easily persuaded to continue to have fun. Alexander McCall Smith More Quotes by Alexander McCall Smith More Quotes From Alexander McCall Smith If your ceiling should fall down, then you have lost a room, but gained a courtyard. Think of it that way. Alexander McCall Smith ceilingsfallthinking Any author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do. Alexander McCall Smith characterfictionneeds Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. Then there was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe – the only lady private detective in Botswana – brewed redbush tea. And three mugs – one for herself, one for her secretary, and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need? Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. No inventory would ever include those, of course. Alexander McCall Smith mmawhitetwo I just focus on getting the first scene right, with a few lines about the overall plot, and then the book grows organically. Alexander McCall Smith plotfocusbook I'm very interested in tea. I wouldn't mind being involved in some aspect of the tea industry. Alexander McCall Smith aspectmindtea Everything has been something before. Alexander McCall Smith has-beens My wife Elizabeth and I started The Really Terrible Orchestra for people like us who are pretty hopeless musicians who would like to play in an orchestra. It has been a great success. We give performances; weve become the most famous bad orchestra in the world. Alexander McCall Smith playgivingpeople Dating is really all about sex. In the conventional context, this means that the man invites the woman to go through a social encounter, the ultimate purpose of which is sexual engagement. Alexander McCall Smith menmeansex 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? Alexander McCall Smith bluntignoredbullying This is another thing which I really like investigating in my novels: what is it that makes an intimate society, that makes a society in which moral concern for others will be possible? Part of that I think are manners and ritual. We tried to get rid of manners, we tried to abolish manners in the '60s. Manners were very, very old-fashioned and un-cool. And of course we didn't realise that manners are the building blocks of proper moral relationships between people. Alexander McCall Smith concern-for-othersblockthinking I enjoy women's conversation, and I think that helps me to describe them in fiction. Alexander McCall Smith helpingfictionthinking Life consists of positive and negative features, and I think that it is permissible to write about both. Alexander McCall Smith writingnegativethinking If you want to write, do two things - read lots of books and also, in your own writing, practise. Just write and write and then write again. persist. And never be put off or discouraged. You can do it! Alexander McCall Smith writingtwobook Ritual is a terribly important, binding cement in a society. If we abandon formality and rituals, we're actually weakening the relationships that exist between people that bind. Alexander McCall Smith abandonimportantpeople Some of my characters are a mixture of various aspects of people I have met. others are pure invention. Alexander McCall Smith mixturescharacterpeople I can read more languages than I speak! I speak French and Italian - not very well, alas, but I can get by. I read German and Spanish. I can read Latin (I did a lot of Latin at school.) I'm afraid I do not speak any African languages, although I can understand a little bit of the Zulu-related languages, but only a tiny bit. Alexander McCall Smith italianlatinschool I write four or five a books a year. That means that I usually have one on the go. I am fortunate in being able to write quickly - 1000 words an hour. Alexander McCall Smith writingmeanbook We need to believe I think in justice. We need to run our lives as if justice existed... If we abandon a belief that justice will eventually be done, we make this world much more difficult for ourselves. Alexander McCall Smith runningbelievethinking The local community is very important in one's life; the feelings of identification with a place and people. Alexander McCall Smith placecommunitylifepeople The wider your readership, the greater the chances of offending your readers. Alexander McCall Smith widerchancesyourgreater
