The Joy and Light Bus Company

They talked about the sorts of things they liked to talk about when there were no important decisions to be made and when the conversation could wander comfortably along uncluttered shores.

A firefly came into view against the warm darkness. Then it went off, darting and dipping erratically -- out into the night, a tiny pinpoint of light, which, at the end of the day, is all that is needed.

they would just have to make the best of the situation. When there were things that you could not change, then there was a strong case for accepting things as they were and working from there.

We have always asked too much of women in this country. They hold up the sky on their shoulders.

There is no need to be unkind to people who are unhappy inside themselves. There is room for everyone. Everyone should be able to find somewhere on this earth to sit down.

The important thing is to carry on doing what you’re doing,’ she said. ‘And not to do what you think other people think you should do. You should do what you do as well as you possibly can.

There were evil people in the world--we all knew that--and for much of the time they got away with it because they were rich and powerful and could act with impunity. But every so often, one might be able to sneak up on those people and poke them in the stomach--as Mma Makutsi might say. Why not now?

All of us, Mma Ramotswe thought, wanted something, even if we were unable to tell anybody exactly what it was that we wanted.

Never try to reach a conclusion before you reach the conclusion.

... she sipped at her 1st cup of red bush tea, not in any hurry to do whatever it was that she had to do next. That, of course, is always a good time to think - when you know that you are going to have to do something, but you know that you do not have to do it just yet.

Sometimes there were doubts, and those doubts could persist, but often you really had no choice. You had to feel your way through the complexities of this life and hope, just hope, that you got it right more often than you got it wrong.

It would be good if there could be an end to need in this world; it would be good if people did not have to worry about what would happen to them if their crops failed, or if their cattle got sick and died, or if they lost the jobs on which they, along with a number of hungry mouths, depended.

She hoped that was the case, anyway, and that, she supposed, was the way it would always be. You hoped that what you did was for the overall good, but you could never be sure. Sometimes there were doubts, and those doubts could persist, but often you really had no choice. You had to feel your way through the complexities of this life and hope, just hope, that you got it right more often than you got it wrong. And sometimes, of course, you did not have to do anything at all.

and the vestiges of that early feeling were still there, as she could not bring herself to punish the snails or caterpillars for their depredations. They were her fellow creatures, after all. They had not asked to be snails or caterpillars, and they needed to eat, as we all did.

That, of course, is always a good time to think—when you know that you are going to have to do something, but you know that you do not have to do it just yet.

She had that greatest of all things, wisdom, and that was a very important thing to possess in a world that seemed to be losing the respect it had always had for wise people. Wise people had been replaced in the public estimation by that curious category of people—celebrities—who were, for the most part, shallow people not known for their wisdom. Where were the Nelson Mandelas of this world of celebrity? Where were the Gandhis

a list of people who drive Mercedes-Benzes, and he checks to see if they have made up for it by being kind to people.

to people who are unhappy inside themselves. There is room for everyone. Everyone should be able to find somewhere on this earth to sit down.

In spite of her limited stature, Mma Pula-Pula had about her a strong confident air of authority. But it was not authority of the sort that one would encounter in a school principal or a magistrate or somebody of that sort: this was the authority of the bully.

Wise people had been replaced in the public estimation by that curious category of people—celebrities—who were, for the most part, shallow people not known for their wisdom. Where were the Nelson Mandelas of this world of celebrity?

How do you keep men happy?

There were times, she thought, when 'ah' said everything that needed to be said

People had to be left to make their own mistakes, even if the rest of us could see quite clearly the dangers that lay ahead.

His two young mechanics lived in a completely different world, it seemed to him. This was not the world that he and Mma Ramotswe inhabited - a world in which people went about their business in an orderly way, drank tea at regular intervals, and retired to bed before nine-thirty at night.

There was rarely anything new in life, she thought—but it was not just human failings that repeated themselves: so too did those things that were positive. They recurred, which was a good thing, in a way, as familiarity brought with it a certain comfort. So it was reassuring when people followed routines that you had seen them follow countless times: without pattern the world could be a perplexing and frightening place. That was why Mma Ramotswe liked the old ways; that was why she appreciated it when people greeted you in the traditional manner, or enquired after your health, or made mention of things that had happened a long time ago and that people liked to hear about. These things reminded you of who you were, where you were, and how, even after you had gone, there would still be this place, this earth, this happiness—all still there for those who came after you.

Love was the answer, of course, to this, as it was to so many other problems. Love the people who did not love you; treat with courtesy those who did not show that courtesy to you, and they would realise what wrong they were doing. That was what she did, and she had found that in almost every case those who showed arrogance, or unkindness, or sheer malice, could be shamed into regret, and through regret came change. Of course, it did not always work. There were some occasions in which confrontation was necessary, and harsh words had to be spoken because some people seemed impervious to the pain they caused. But it was better to avoid such showdowns if one possibly could. There was always more than one way of bringing in a harvest.