The Enigma of Garlic Quotes

“lies don’t stop the traffic or halt birds in their flight: they go out into the world with impunity, unchallenged because people are too tired or browbeaten to object, or because they have lost the ability to discern where the truth lies.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“And the problem with having no subject is that you cannot deliberately invent a great theme: a great theme has to come to you; it has to hurt you into artistic expression.”
― Alexander Mccall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“That was the problem with life in general – we slipped into a rut in which we failed to state what we meant by the things we did. Our lives, Matthew thought, can become like silent films without the subtitles.”
― Alexander Mccall Smith (Author), The Enigma of Garlic

“That was the problem with clichés: they became so embedded in our minds that we found it hard to think, or speak, without them.”
― Alexander Mccall Smith (Author), The Enigma of Garlic

“Portraiture emphasised power and possessions. It was all about pride and affirmation of position.”
― Alexander Mccall Smith (Author), The Enigma of Garlic

“We're all the same, aren't we? We're all Jock Tamson's bairns. Nobody is any better, or worse, than anybody else.”
― Alexander Mccall Smith (Author), The Enigma of Garlic

“Big Lou had discovered something about people that she had not known before: they did not want to learn, because an awful lot of people, in her experience, thought they knew everything already.”
― Alexander Mccall Smith (Author), The Enigma of Garlic

“It is natural to think of that sort of freedom, because that is something for which we all yearn, some of us desperately, with every fibre of our being; for others the yearning may be no more than the occasional ache. But it is something that most of us feel at one time or another.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“It was Coolidge of whom Dorothy Parker, when told of his death, asked, “How can they tell?” Dorothy Parker was extremely witty, but in this case her amusing observation obscured the fact that Coolidge, who was undoubtedly dull, was also a fairly successful president–for the very reason that he did nothing, and said even less. That would not be possible today, of course. People had to do things, and would not rest until they had done them.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“notice about the charge that would be levied for cleaning should a guest smoke (guests who spontaneously combusted would, one assumes, not be asked to pay).”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“Betjeman, called him sentimental, but he could hit the nail on the head when it came to describing people’s feelings; and he had written there about a man coming out of a doctor’s surgery, his X-ray photos tucked under his”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“And when I say “the least of us”, or even “the weaker brethren”, I do not mean other people, you know: I mean myself.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“It’s important to be able to accept,’ Brother Gregory said. He glanced at Bruce in an encouraging way. There was no hint of reproach in his voice; just warmth. ‘Some of us find that hard – I know that – but graciousness in accepting the help of others”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“not all those whose work amounts to something believe that what they do is good enough, or even worth doing.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“He wondered why he had ignored parental advice, and decided that it was because it was parental – that was why.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“A problem articulated was a problem halfway to being solved.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“There’s nowt so queer as folk?”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic

“He loved Elspeth so much, and he hoped that she knew it. Yet it occurred to him that she might not be sure of that because he had not told her – or at least he had not told her recently. Wives and husbands, it seemed to him, did not say that sort of thing: it was all left unsaid – assumed, perhaps, but not spelled out. That was the problem with life in general – we slipped into a rut in which we failed to state what we meant by the things we did. Our lives, Matthew thought, can become like silent films without the subtitles.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Enigma of Garlic