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Mma QUOTES

Mma QUOTES

1 " Mma Ramotswe had listened to a World Service broadcast on her radio one day which had simply taken her breath away. It was about philosophers who called themselves existentialists and who, as far as Mma Ramotswe could ascertain, lived in France. These French people said that you should just live in a way which made you feel real, and that the real thing to do was the right thing too. Mma Ramotswe had listened in astonishment. You did not have to go to France to meet existentialists, she reflected; there were many existentialists right here in Botswana. Note Mokoti, for example. She had been married to an existentialist herself, without even knowing it. Note, that selfish man who never once put himself out for another--not even for his wife--would have approved of existentialists, and they of him. It was very existentialist, perhaps, to go out to bars every night while your pregnant wife stayed at home, and even more existentialist to go off with girls--young existentialist girls--you met in bars. It was a good life being an existentialist, although not too good for all the other, nonexistentialist people around one. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , Morality for Beautiful Girls (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #3)

2 " So it was perfectly possible that there were men who liked shopping, men who understood exactly what it was all about, but Mma Ramotwe had yet to meet such a man. Maybe they existed elsewhere - in France, perhaps - but they did not seem to be much in evidence in Botswana. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #12)

3 " Teachers were not allowed to beat children as they did in the past, although, Mma Ramotswe reflected, there were some boys-and indeed some young men-who might have been greatly improved by moderate physical correction. The apprentices, for example: would it help if Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni resorted to physical chastisement-nothing severe, of course-but just an occasional kick in the seat of the pants while they were bending over to change a tyre or something like that? The thought made her smile. She would even offer to administer the kick herself, which she imagined might be oddly satisfying, as one of the apprentices, the one who still kept on about girls, had a largeish bottom which she thought would be quite comfortable to kick. How enjoyable it would be to creep up behind him and kick him when he was least expecting it, and then to say: Let that be a lesson! That was all one would have to say, but it would be a blow for women everywhere. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , The Kalahari Typing School for Men (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #4)

4 " Men are very sensitive, Mma Makutsi. You would not always think it to look at them, but they are. They do not like you to point out that they are wrong, even when they are. That is the way things are, Mma--it just is. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #13)

5 " He will be a small man inside," said Mma Ramotswe. " He will feel small and unimportant. That is why he needs to put ladies down, Mma. Men who are big inside never feel the need to do that. "

6 " Most morality, thought Mma Ramotswe, was about doing the right thing because it had been identified as such by a long process of acceptance and observance. You simply could not create your own morality because your experience would never be enough to do so. What gives you the right to say that you know better than your ancestors? Morality is for everybody and this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it. That was what made modern morality, with its emphasis on individuals and the working out of an individual person, so weak. If you gave people the chance to work out their morality, then they would work out the version which was easiest for them and which allowed them to do what suited them for as much of the time as possible. That, in Mma Ramotswe's view, was simple selfishness, whatever grand name one gave it. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , Morality for Beautiful Girls (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #3)

7 " Morality is for everybody, and this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it. That was what made the modern morality, with its emphasis on individuals and the working out of an individual position, so weak. If you gave people the chance to work out their morality, then they would work out the version which was easiest for them and which allowed them to do what suited them for as much of the time as possible. That, in Mma Ramotswe's view, was simple selfishness, whatever grand name one gave to it. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , Morality for Beautiful Girls (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #3)

8 " There is a tidal wave of ignorance, Mma Ramotswe. It is a great tidal wave and it will drown all of us if we are not careful. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #16)

9 " It is so easy to thank people," said Mma Ramotswe, passing the letter over to Mma Makutsi, " and most people don't bother to do it. They don't thank the person who does something for them. They just take it for granted. "

10 " ...they are dazzled by all the money that they are being offered. That is what money does, Mma Ramotswe—you must have seen that. Sometime we need to look the other way when people put money in front of our noses. We have to look at the other things we can see so the money doesn't hide them. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #13)

11 " She was of traditional build herself, but her figure was largely concealed by the folds of a generously cut shift dress made out of a flecked green fabric. It was like a tent, thought Mma Ramotswe--a camouflage tent of the sort that the Botswana Defence Force might use. But I do not sit in judgement on the dresses of others, she told herself, and a tent was a practical enough garment, if that is what one felt comfortable in. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , The Double Comfort Safari Club (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #11)

12 " Our stomachs live in towns," said Mma Potokwani, patting the front of her dress. 'That is where the work is. Our stomachs know that. But our hearts are usually somewhere else. "

13 " And if there's bad behaviour," Mma Potokwane went on. " If there's bad behaviour, the quickest way of stopping it is to give more love. That always works, you know. People say we must punish when there is wrongdoing, but if you punish you're only punishing yourself. And what's the point of that? "

14 " Dieting was cruel; it was an abuse of human rights. Yes, that's what it was, and she should not allow herself to be manipulated in this way. She stopped herself. Thinking like that was nothing more than coming up with excuses for breaking the diet. Mma Ramotswe was made of sterner stuff than that, and so she persisted. "

― Alexander McCall Smith , Blue Shoes and Happiness (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #7)

15 " I wasn't always the most fashionable, and I would come to school with cauliflower ear and ringworm. I got made fun of a lot. People called me 'Miss Man' and 'Guns,' and people directed a lot of karate jokes at me. I wish that I was at school now that MMA and martial arts is cool, but back when I was in school, people associated it with nerdy stuff. "

16 " Yeah, I get to fight in 'Eclipse.' My trainer is teaching me MMA right now. So. Cool. "

17 " I am excited to join Combate Americas on NBC UNIVERSO, and look forward to building this incredible MMA sports brand and supporting the extremely talented athletes on its growing roster. "