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Book: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
Quotes of Book: The Unbearable Lightness of
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  1. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    I can't, Tofu," said Bertie. "I can't join the cubs." Tofu was dismissive of Bertie's protestation. "You can't? Why? Is it because you think you'll fail the medical examination? There isn't one. That's the army you're thinking of. The cubs will take anyone – even somebody like you.
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  2. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    Look at what very ordinary people have lost, and think about that for a moment. What has happened to working-class communities in Scotland? To miners, for example. To fishermen? Who? You might well ask. To men and women who work with their hands? Who again? These people are being swept away by globalisation. Swept away. Now they're all so demoralised that they're caught in the culture of permanent sick notes. And who speaks for the young Scottish male, as a matter of interest?
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  3. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    you, I did once, years ago, do a little picture of Margaret Thatcher – bless her – a tiny little miniature. Then I pasted it onto a matchbox." Domenica looked puzzled. "Oh?" Angus smiled. "Yes. Then I stood the matchbox outside a mouse hole. The mouse had been bothering me – he had gnawed away at some canvas I had. So I used it as a mouse-scarer. It was more humane than a mouse-trap, you see. The mouse came out and saw this picture of Margaret Thatcher staring at him and he ran straight back into the hole. It was very effective.
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  4. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    I'm very glad that Matthew phoned," he said. "I've been out of touch, you know. It's like that out here. You get caught up in your own life and you forget about family back home.
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  5. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    How often have I noticed or, indeed, listened to him? We talk, but do I actually listen, or is our conversation mainly a question of my waiting for him to stop and for it to be my turn to say something? For how many of us is that what conversation means - the setting up of our lines?
    book-quotelistening

  6. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    And he thought for a moment how stupid our society had become, that its nanny-like concern for risk should prevent one man helping another to take a dead friend up the steps
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  7. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    You're right. Many nurses nowadays don't like doing the things that nurses used to have to do. Changing sheets and collecting bedpans - that sort of thing. Nursing has moved on, Bertie.'Bertie was puzzled. 'But if they don't do that,' he said, 'then who does? Do people have to tuck themselves into bed when they're in hospital?'Irene was amused by this and raised her eyes again. 'Dear Bertie, no, not at all. They have other people now to do that sort of thing. There are other wome. . . people who do that.' 'So they aren't nurses, Mummy?' asked Bertie. Irene waved a hand vaguely. 'No. They call them care assistants, or something like that. It's very important work.' 'So what do the nurses do then, Mummy? If they have somebody else to take the bedpans to the patients, what's left for the nurses to do? Do they do the things that doctors do? Can nurses take your tonsils out?' 'I think they'd like to,' said Irene.
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  8. Alexander McCall Smith _ The Unbearable Lightness of

    Moisturiser and a good cry: two things for modern men to think about.
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