Alexander McCall Smith Quotes

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

• Up
• Long
• Political
• Poetry
• Tolerance
• Lit

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• All I came to Los Angeles with was a dream. No one from my family ever left Ohio.

  

  Haley Bennett
  • Family
  • Dream
  • Los Angeles

• I managed to slip two children out in the middle of my career and have been lucky with all the work.

  

  Samantha Bond
  • Work
  • Children
  • Career

• Even under Obamacare, there are people that get subsidized insurance. But that has a $6,000 deductible. What do you think they do with that $6,000 deductible? They are still a nonpayer.

  

  Rand Paul
  • People
  • Think
  • Insurance

• I think I've owned all the models of iPods so far. And these days between my iPod, iPhone and my personal laptop computer, I'm someone who is very, very grateful for all the ways to listen to music and completely switch off from people around me and listen to the music in detail, which is very hard to do if you're in a room with other people.

  

  Ian Anderson
  • People
  • Music
  • Grateful

• Greetings and death to our enemies.

  

  Dan Aykroyd
  • Death
  • Enemies
  • Our

• I am a night owl. I always have been... and I'd like to think I always will be, although surely having children will put a stop to my nightly affairs with myself.

  

  Rachel Nichols
  • Children
  • Night
  • Affairs

• I just feel I've got thousands and thousands of young fans that have to learn about what's real when it comes to AIDS.

  

  Eric Lynn Wright
  • Real
  • Feel
  • Learn

• Men of New England, I hold you to the doctrines of liberty which ye inherit from your Puritan forefathers.

  

  Caleb Cushing
  • Men
  • You
  • Liberty

• I really, really love Daniel Craig as Bond.

  

  Naomie Harris
  • Love
  • Really
  • Bond

• My dad was a kind of semiprofessional Dixieland-type drummer, and I learned the drums from him. When I was about twelve, we bought our first Ludwig drum set from a pawnshop - a marching-band bass drum, great big tom-toms, and big, deep snare drums.

  

  Sam Shepard
  • Great
  • Dad
  • Kind

• My first audition was for a commercial for the lottery. I didn't get it, so I hate the lottery.

  

  Kat Dennings
  • Hate
  • First
  • Lottery

• You want a career? Do that first. You don't want to have kids? Then don't. You don't want to get married? Then don't. But once you do something, you've got to know that there is compromise.

  

  Iman
  • Kids
  • Want
  • Career

• The truth is, when I got started in this business, it wasn't because I had a full understanding of the importance of the business, but because I thought it was fun. I found it exciting. It fulfilled me, whatever it was that I was looking for.

  

  Sam Donaldson
  • Business
  • Truth
  • Fun

• What is the future of the woman's movement? How in the hell do I know? I don't run it.

  

  Kate Millett
  • Future
  • Woman
  • Hell

• I have great admiration for the way the Americans do business. They drive a hard bargain, but once they do it, they stick to their contracts.

  

  Raghav Bahl
  • Great
  • Business
  • Drive

• If the Knesset is a temple, then Feiglin is the idol. A Knesset where Feiglin presides is an impure Knesset.

  

  Yossi Sarid
  • Where
  • Temple
  • Idol

• I did improv for about 10 years professionally, and before that, I had done it in high school as part of an improv team. It was definitely a big part of my upbringing.

  

  Tatiana Maslany
  • School
  • Done
  • High

• I was running for mayor of Syracuse - the first woman to run for mayor in our city, or in New York, and one of the first in the United States. I was known for my strong conservation plank. In 1969, the term 'conservation' was hardly on the tip of every citizen's tongue.

  

  Karen DeCrow
  • Strong
  • Running
  • City

• There are many stages of grief.

  

  Jennifer Aniston
  • Grief

• I never thought of having platinum albums and winning awards. I just wanted to write songs and sing when I started out in the music business.

  

  Randy Travis
  • Music
  • Business
  • Winning

• I'm not a pop singer; I'm not a jazz singer. And I know I sing like not a whole lot of people do; I also know that a lot of other people act like I do. And better than I do. But what informs the singing is the acting. They're not separate from each other.

  

  Brian Stokes Mitchell
  • People
  • Singing

• I grew up in a very westernised environment and went to a private American school. But my personality was shy and quiet, and I wanted to wear the hijab but didn't have the courage, as I knew my friends would talk me out of it.

  

  Leila Aboulela
  • Up
  • School
  • Friends

• The notion that anything can be invented wholly and that these invented things are classified as 'fiction' and that other writing, presumably not made up, is called 'nonfiction' strikes me as a very arbitrary separation of things.

  

  James Salter
  • Up
  • Writing

• 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
  • Up
  • Long
  • Political