Tom Michell > Quotes

“All of a sudden I found I was hoping against hope that the penguin would survive, because, as of that instant, he had a name and his name was Juan Salvador Pinguino and with his name came a surge of hope and the beginning of a bond that would last a lifetime. That was the moment at which he became my penguin, and whatever the future held, we'd face it together.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Why had this penguin come to mean so much? That, at least, is easy to explain. Anybody who suddenly moves far from family and friends and the pets they love, feels a .. vulnerable emptiness. It is inevitable; even despite the sensational compensation. Nature upholds a vacuum and it was into this space that Juan Salvador rushed. At first, he occupied it, and then he filled and dominated it. It was not big enough for him, and so he stretched it; expanded it beyond the measure. I didn't think about it, it just happened; and then, he was gone. Of course, time moves on and new family and friends and pets jostle for position in our heart, but the vacancy left by previous occupants never fills. We keep our loved ones alive throughout our memory, our conversations and our stories, but we don't necessarily choose to reveal how much they really meant. We don't have to. Anybody who lost a pet knows.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“You can't release penguins on their own, the keeper explained. Like seal lions, some to that, they simply won't go without a fellow creature of their own kind; they won't leave.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“A short-time loan is as bad as a long – So why in Heaven (before we are there) Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear? My”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“the pain of parting is the toll demanded by fate for all the joy brought to us by loved ones, and I felt inconsolable.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“No, no, you must call him Juan Salvado - John Saved. The others agreed unanimously that it was a more appropriate name than Juan Salvador (John Savior), and so it was that his name became Juan Salvado among his intimate friends, although he remained John Salvador on formal occasions.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Could one perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on a penguin?”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Our loves are not given but lent, at compound interest of cent percent; though, it is not always the case, I believe, that the longer we've kept it the more do we grieve for when debts are payable, right or wrong, a short time loan is as bad as a long. So why in Heaven, before we are there, should we give our heart to a dog to tear?”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Why do you have a penguin with you?” How much did he know? What had the penguin told him? I tried to answer. “Because…er…Well, because…” Each time I started, the words just dried up. Why did I have a penguin in a string bag in the middle of Montevideo? Again I tried. “Because…” “Because you are English,” he prompted me gently, nodding in a knowing and even schoolmasterly sort of way. It was a statement, not a question.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Slowly she climbed the stairs, hauling herself up using the banisters, puffing with each step, and her smile of achievement as she reached the summit was as warming as sunshine. For her, the joy of the things she could do outweighed the woes of those she couldn’t. In all the time I knew her I don’t believe I ever heard her grumble about her own lot.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“the pain of parting is the toll demanded by Fate for all the joy brought to us by loved ones”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Our loves are not given but lent, at compound interest of cent percent; though, it is not always the case, I believe, that the longer we've kept it the more do we grieve for when debts are payable, right or wrong, a short time loan is as bad as a loan. So why in Heaven, before we are there, should we give our heart to a dog to tear?”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Growing older with the people I love makes me happy.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Of course, time moves on and new family, friends and pets jostle for position in our hearts, but the vacancy left by previous occupants never fills. We keep our loved ones alive through our memories, our conversations and our stories but we don’t necessarily choose to reveal how much they really meant. We don’t have to. Anybody who has ever lost a pet knows. I haven’t been any less fond of any of our dogs. Kipling warns us in his poem ‘The Power of the Dog’ to beware of ‘giving your heart to a dog to tear’.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“For her, the joy of the things she could do outweighed the woes of those she couldn’t.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Pentru ea, bucuria lucrurilor pe care le putea face depasea suferinta provocata de lucrurile pe care nu le putea face.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons