Quote

But we make such mistakes all the time, all through our lives. Wisdom, I suppose, is seeing this and acting upon it before it is too late. But it is often too late, isn't it? - and those things that we should have said are unsaid, and remain unsaid for ever.

Alexander McCall Smith

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Alexander McCall Smith
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: August 24
Novelist
Teacher
Writer
Alexander Sandy McCall Smith
Often
Remain
Ever
Late
Make
Mistake
Things
Seeing
Time
Wisdom
Acting
Unsaid
Upon
Suppose
Lives
Mistakes

More quotes by Alexander McCall Smith

Image
Who can't like pigs? They're wonderful creatures! I've always liked pigs.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
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
Image
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
Image
[Edinburgh] is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
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
Image
Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
None of us knows how we will cope with snakes until the moment arises, and then most of us find out that we do not do it very well.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
Dogs are in on our human silliness lions are not.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
The Okavango Delta is an astonishing sight: the great Okavango River, rather than flow towards the sea, flows inland, into the sands of the Kalahari.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
As a writer I've learned certain lessons. One of them is to be careful about how you put a view, and to bear in mind how easily and readily you'll be misinterpreted.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
It is sometimes easier to be happy if you don't know everything.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
Any extreme political creed brought only darkness in the long run it lit up nothing. The best politics were those of caution, tolerance and moderation, Angus maintained, but such politics were, alas, also very dull, and certainly moved nobody to poetry.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
Manners are the basic building blocks of civil society.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
Painters aren't expected to paint bleak pictures, are they?
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
A wedding was a strange ceremony, she thought, with all those formal words, those solemn vows made by one to another whereas the real question that should be put to the two people involved was a very simple one. Are you happy with each other? was the only question that should be asked to which they both should reply, preferably in unison, Yes.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
And that, in a way, was the burden of being a philosopher: one knew what one had to do, but it was so often the opposite of what one really wanted to do.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
Self-pity does not appreciate pedantry.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
My parents were very supportive and always encouraged us. My father was a gentle, nice man. My mother was quite a colourful character and a keen reader who encouraged me to write.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
Do not take on a traditionally built person unless you are prepared for a heavyweight bout.
Alexander McCall Smith
Image
There are old mycologists and there are bold mycologists, but there are no old, bold mycologists.
Alexander McCall Smith