The Bertie Project Quotes

“The problem, he thought, was that so much humour involved misfortune of one sort or another, and now that same human misfortune was out of bounds - interdicted by self-appointed guardians of sensitivity. There was somebody to be offended by everything, he though, which left little room for laughter.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Bertie Project

“Reflections on human smallness have often prompted me to think that. What do divisions between people matter? What does it matter if somebody is English or Scottish or whatever?”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Bertie Project

“But in essence, our smallness, our irrelevance in the cosmic context, should make us less petty, more accepting, less attached to small and ultimately meaningless things.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Bertie Project

“Does it matter? Think of our petty concerns and then look up at the night sky, at the stars in the firmament, and think: do any of our petty little concerns really make one jot of difference? Do they mean anything in the context of this great spinning universe—if universes spin, which I am not at all sure they do…”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Bertie Project

“At some stage, of course, you’re going to discover that good does not always triumph and that evil can very easily win the battle; I hope, though, that when that truth dawns you will be old enough and strong enough to make the deliberate effort not to believe it. Because only if we pretend that it is not true can we steel ourselves to fight against it—like those young men in the Spitfires who did not stop to consider the impossible, daunting odds and went up nonetheless.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Bertie Project

“You'd think he'd look more ashamed of himself," said Bertie. "You'd think that he'd look more ashamed of being a Campbell.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Bertie Project