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Africa was full of people in need of help and there had to be a limit. You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life. That principle allowed you to deal with the suffering you saw. That was your suffering. Other people would have to deal with the suffering that they, in their turn, came across.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
by Alexander McCall Smith
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In "Morality for Beautiful Girls," Alexander McCall Smith reflects on the overwhelming need for help across Africa, emphasizing the reality that no single individual can assist everyone. This acknowledgment creates a framework for coping with the pervasive suffering by focusing on those who enter one’s life, rather than becoming paralyzed by the sheer scale of need. It reinforces the idea that personal engagement can make a meaningful difference.

This perspective allows individuals to manage their emotional responses to suffering. By recognizing that everyone will encounter different challenges and can only address a limited scope of need, a more sustainable approach to compassion emerges. Each person must tackle the issues they face and aid those within reach, effectively contributing to a larger collective effort toward alleviation.

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Morality for Beautiful Girls
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Alexander McCall Smith
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Other quotes in Morality for Beautiful Girls

am lucky that I can make somebody so happy just by saying something.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
am lucky that I can make somebody so happy just by saying something.
It had given her pleasure to do things for him in his lifetime, and now it was a pleasure to do things for his memory. But the memory of a father went only so far.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
It had given her pleasure to do things for him in his lifetime, and now it was a pleasure to do things for his memory. But the memory of a father went only so far.
She wondered whether there was any way of getting him to take the pills by trickery. She did not like the idea of using underhand methods with Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, but when a person's reason was disturbed, then she thought that any means were justified in getting them better. It was as if a person had been kidnapped by some evil being and held ransom. You would not hesitate, she felt, to resort to trickery to defeat the evil being.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
She wondered whether there was any way of getting him to take the pills by trickery. She did not like the idea of using underhand methods with Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, but when a person's reason was disturbed, then she thought that any means were justified in getting them better. It was as if a person had been kidnapped by some evil being and held ransom. You would not hesitate, she felt, to resort to trickery to defeat the evil being.
But the problem is that even if you know that is the best thing to do, you often don't do it....it is true. It's as if there were two people inside you. One says: do this. Another says: do that. But both voices are inside the same person.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
But the problem is that even if you know that is the best thing to do, you often don't do it....it is true. It's as if there were two people inside you. One says: do this. Another says: do that. But both voices are inside the same person.
Moral codes were not designed to be selective, nor indeed were they designed to be questioned. You could not say that you would observe this prohibition but not that.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
Moral codes were not designed to be selective, nor indeed were they designed to be questioned. You could not say that you would observe this prohibition but not that.
Her friend who treated her maid badly was not a wicked person. She behaved well towards her family...but when it came to her maid...she seemed to have little concern for her feelings. It occurred to Mma Ramotswe that such behaviour was no more than ignorance; an inability to understand the hopes and aspirations of others. Theat understanding...was the beginning of all morality. If you knew how a person was feeling, if you could imagine yourself in her position, then surely it would be impossible to inflict further pain. Inflicting pain in such circumstances would be like hurting oneself.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
Her friend who treated her maid badly was not a wicked person. She behaved well towards her family...but when it came to her maid...she seemed to have little concern for her feelings. It occurred to Mma Ramotswe that such behaviour was no more than ignorance; an inability to understand the hopes and aspirations of others. Theat understanding...was the beginning of all morality. If you knew how a person was feeling, if you could imagine yourself in her position, then surely it would be impossible to inflict further pain. Inflicting pain in such circumstances would be like hurting oneself.
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Other quotes in charity

Hard times' is a phrase the English love to use, when speaking of Africa. And it is easy to forget that Africa's 'hard times' were made harder by them.
Alice Walker The Color Purple
Hard times' is a phrase the English love to use, when speaking of Africa. And it is easy to forget that Africa's 'hard times' were made harder by them.
Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity
Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
Africa was full of people in need of help and there had to be a limit. You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life. That principle allowed you to deal with the suffering you saw. That was your suffering. Other people would have to deal with the suffering that they, in their turn, came across.
Alexander McCall Smith Morality for Beautiful Girls
Africa was full of people in need of help and there had to be a limit. You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life. That principle allowed you to deal with the suffering you saw. That was your suffering. Other people would have to deal with the suffering that they, in their turn, came across.
More »

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