Pen Hanley

Category: Quotations

  • Meeting the sunlight: taking time to think

    —

    by

    Pen
    in , , ,

    The picturesque town of Mallaig is on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands. I was waiting for a coffee at the Mallaig Tea Rooms when I saw a framed scroll on the wall above the little coal fire. It read: ‘These are times of more convenience but less time, more knowledge but less judgement,…

  • Technological ineptitude but all things seem possible

    —

    by

    Pen
    in ,

    First, an apology. I was taught how to blog by a not very good teacher who has gone on to something else and can’t be contacted. I didn’t realise until just the other day that in order to edit one’s blog, presumably one doesn’t have to press ‘Publish’ and then press the Edit to make…

  • “Mad with joy”

    —

    by

    Pen
    in , ,

    ‘The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tyres.’ American writer Dorothy Parker said that. I was lucky to get four stepchildren, three of whom – the three boys – lived with us for about half the time. Lucky because it…

  • Happiness and the What if…? questions

    —

    by

    Pen
    in , , ,

    ‘Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.’ Ghandi said that. It makes me happy just thinking about it. Although for most of us it is more an ideal to strive towards as we flounder our way through life trying to earn a living. In our society…

  • How to be Idle and The Two Percent Solution

    —

    by

    Pen
    in ,

    It was the old days of telegrams. You paid per word for the speedy delivery of your message, so they often had a particular tone of terse urgency. They had a tendency to contain either very good or very bad news, news that could not wait for the post. Robert Hughes, late with his commissioned…

  • Creativity and Time Management

    —

    by

    Pen
    in ,

    I’m working on a commissioned book (more on that another time), I have a four day a week writing job already plus I go routinely to the library and borrow the books I’ve reserved and try to find the time to read them before their due date. Some of the books relate to the commissioned…

  • “Busy-ness”: an update on writing and living

    —

    by

    Pen
    in ,

    I haven’t updated this for a long time because of much busy-ness: Chaucer wrote, “Great peace is to be found in little busy-ness”. He was correct. But who is not too busy these days? So sometimes I take a Sunday off and do nothing. (Sundays will be my time for blogging from now on.) Of…

  • Quotations about language, literature and life

    —

    by

    Pen
    in

    ‘The whole quality of cycling is akin to swimming: the economy of effort, the defiance of gravity, the dancing rhythm, and the general need to keep moving, lest you sink or topple. As modes of propulsion, both could safely be classified as environmentally friendly. I enjoy the gliding, swooping motion of the bike as I…