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"The trouble with Grace, she thought, is that she is so literal. But that was the trouble with most people, when it came down to it; there were very few who enjoyed flights of fantasy, and to have that sort of mind--one which enjoyed dry with and understood the absurd--left one in a shrinking minority."
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Exlpore more Perspective quotes
"It is quite futile to argue that man is small compared to the cosmos, for man was always small compared to the nearest tree."
"It is good to focus, but never forget to look around. If you focus on the wrong target, you may miss seeing all of the beauty around you."
"Life is full of beauty, when we focus on the bliss of being."
"The very same thing, don't you see, may be looked at tragically, and turned into a misery, or it may be looked at simply and even humorously. Possibly you are inclined to look at things too tragically."
"Through her eyes the day was new and anything was possible."
"To a fireman, wind is a curse. To a sailor, wind is a blessing."
"Polish the Gold. Be an optimist; look for the best in others, the best in situations, and focus on what is working rather than what is not. It's golden!"
"This thing that troubles you is only one small part of your life. Don't allow it to be all-consuming when there's so much more to embrace."
"For an optimist, life is full of opportunity. For a pessimist, life is full of adversity. Life is what you think of it."
"Life becomes perfect if I look at it through my imperfect perceptions."
Explore more quotes by Alexander McCall Smith
"There was no point in telling somebody not to cry, she had always thought; indeed there were times when you should do exactly the opposite, when you should urge people to cry, to start the healing that sometimes only tears can bring. But if there was a place for tears of relief, there might even be a place for tears of pride."
"Antonia was very conscious of the corrosive power of envy and felt that it was this emotion, more than any other, which lay behind human unhappiness. People did not realise how widespread envy was."
"She did not think that those who were late, or the ancestors themselves, would wish punishment upon us, no matter what our transgressions. It was far more likely that there would be love, falling like rain from above, changing the hearts of the wicked; transforming them."
"It was always the best way of finding out information; just go and ask a woman who keeps her eyes and ears open and who likes to talk. It always worked. It was no use asking men; they simply were not interested enough in other people and the ordinary doings of people. That is why the real historians of Africa had always been the grandmothers, who remembered the lineage and the stories that went with it."
"We can't have moral obligations to every single person in this world. We have moral obligations to those who we come up against, who enter into our moral space, so to speak. That means neighbors, people we deal with, and so on."
"Mma Ramotswe reflected on how easy it was to find oneself committed to a course of action simply because one lacked the courage to say no."
"It was always a mistake, she thought, to dwell on the cause of one's anger."
"We must love those with whom we live and work, and love them for all their failings, manifest and manifold though they be."
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