It was a voice that you felt you had to listen to—or you ignored at your peril.

Men, she thought, were odd about their clothes: they liked to wear the same things until they became defeated and threadbare.

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.

There was a great deal of progress being made, right under their noses, particularly in Africa, and this progress was good. Life was much harder for tyrants than it had been before.

I shall go and sit under a tree…. Which tree, Mma?... Oh, there are many trees in this life, she said. It does not matter which tree you choose, as long as you choose the right one.

I am blessed with 365 days of thanksgiving and answered prayer.

We who are born into this age of freedom and independence and the self must undergo this loneliness. It is the price we pay for these times of ours.

In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.

For such a small country, Britain packs in an amazing diversity of landscapes: coastline, lakes, mountains, rolling countryside, villages and great cities.

We must do our business faithfully, without trouble or disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly, and with tranquility, as often as we find it wandering from him.

I trust my work. It's a collaboration with the material, and when it's viewed, it's a collaboration with the world.

I started acting because I was miserable and crazy and wanted to be someone else, to run around and scream in front of people without getting in trouble.

What did I do?" he said. "Cake! It's cake! Delicious cake!

When you feel gloomy, think what has been done within the last year. How, rising from nothing.

When I'm writing, I'm locking myself in a room. I'm the worst critic in the world. I write something and then I beat myself up. I'm like "Vin, you're retarded, that makes no sense."