AtomicQuote

Alexander McCall Smith Quote

He had been thinking of how landscape moulds a language. It was impossible to imagine these hills giving forth anything but the soft syllables of Irish, just as only certain forms of German could be spoken on the high crags of Europe; or Dutch in the muddy, guttural, phlegmish lowlands.

Alexander McCall Smith

He had been thinking of how landscape moulds a language. It was impossible to imagine these hills giving forth anything but the soft syllables of Irish, just as only certain forms of German could be spoken on the high crags of Europe; or Dutch in the muddy, guttural, phlegmish lowlands.

Tags: german, irish, landscape, language

Related Quotes

Truth like beauty seems to be in the eye and mind of the beholder

Helene Munson

Truth like beauty seems to be in the eye and mind of the beholder

Tags: boston, cambridge, german, harvard, non fiction, relocation, self help, travel

There have been two great narcotics in European civilisation: Christianity and alcohol.

Friedrich Nietzsche

There have been two great narcotics in European civilisation: Christianity and alcohol.

Tags: alcohol, booze, christianity, envy, european history, funny, german, narcotics, philosophy

But every once in a great while, the pull of her heritage would hit her, and Grand-mere would cook something real. I could never figure out what it was that triggered her, but I would come home from s...

Stacey Ballis

But every once in a great while, the pull of her heritage would hit her, and Grand-mere would cook something real. I could never figure out what it was that triggered her, but I would come home from s...

Tags: cooking, german, grand mere, hoppel poppel, hot dogs, ingredients, onions, potatoes

Oh, I thought of calling it Journeyings in Germany. It sounds well, and would be correct. Or Jottings from German Journeyings--I haven't quite decided yet... (Minora)

Elizabeth von Arnim

Oh, I thought of calling it Journeyings in Germany. It sounds well, and would be correct. Or Jottings from German Journeyings--I haven't quite decided yet... (Minora)

Tags: garden, german, german garden, journey, minora

If they were going to be like that, then I just wished they hadn't actually been German. It was too easy. Too obvious. It was like coming across an Irishman who actually was stupid, a mother-in-law wh...

Douglas Adams

If they were going to be like that, then I just wished they hadn't actually been German. It was too easy. Too obvious. It was like coming across an Irishman who actually was stupid, a mother-in-law wh...

Tags: german, humour, stereotypes

Warner laces his boots and sings the songs and marches the marches, acting less out of duty than out of a time worn desire to be dutiful.

Anthony Doerr

Warner laces his boots and sings the songs and marches the marches, acting less out of duty than out of a time worn desire to be dutiful.

Tags: duty, german, germany, war, werner

No one has ever properly understood me, I have never fully understood anyone; and no one understands anyone else

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

No one has ever properly understood me, I have never fully understood anyone; and no one understands anyone else

Tags: deep, eloquent, empathy, german, last words, loneliness, philosophy, sympathy, understanding

So much for progress. How quickly civilization could dissolve into its more ugly elements.

Kate Atkinson

So much for progress. How quickly civilization could dissolve into its more ugly elements.

Tags: elements, german, germans, progress, ugly

The German language is so sonorous, isn't it? Beautiful language...the language of poetry. Angry, angry poetry.

John Oliver

The German language is so sonorous, isn't it? Beautiful language...the language of poetry. Angry, angry poetry.

Tags: anger, german, german language, germany, humor, poetry

She walked down the basement steps. She saw an imaginary framed photo seep into the wall - a quiet-smiled secret. No more than a few meters, it was a long walk to the drop sheets and the assortment of...

Markus Zusak

She walked down the basement steps. She saw an imaginary framed photo seep into the wall - a quiet-smiled secret. No more than a few meters, it was a long walk to the drop sheets and the assortment of...

Tags: friendship, german, jewish, sleep, the book thief
About Alexander McCall Smith

Sir Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith (born 24 August 1948) is a Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The "McCall" derives from his great-great-grandmother Bethea McCall, who married James Smith at Glencairn, Dumfries-shire, in 1833.