Hazel Prior > Quotes

“There are three types of people in this world, Very. (He called me Very.) There are those who make the world worse, those who make no difference and those who make the world better. Be one who makes the world better, if you can.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“Tears come when you’ve been too strong for much too long.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“Don’t get me wrong. I do like people, I like them very much. I just can’t cope with them in huge quantities. I’m so aware of all those emotions, all those plans and dreams and longings. All those agendas. It’s like this massive overload to my system.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“I am beginning to think it is a good idea to tell people how you feel occasionally. At least, it is if you choose the people with care.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“There are those who make the world worse, those who make no difference and those who make the world better. Be one who makes the world better, if you can.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“Life can be generous. It can heal the heart and whisper that it’s always possible to start again, never too late to make a difference. It asserts that there are many, many things worth living for. And one of those things—one of the most unexpectedly joyful things of all—is penguins. —”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“It is lifelong habit of mine to pick up litter because of something my dear father once said. It is a small act of remembrance as well as a token gesture to atone for the chaos left behind by the human race.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“People say that certain sounds can melt a heart of stone. If there is anyone who has that sort of a heart―which I doubt (as far as I am aware hearts are made of fibrous materials, fluid sacs and pumping mechanisms)―if anyone does have a heart composed of granite or flint and therefore not at all prone to melting but just conceivably meltable when exposed to very beautiful sounds, then the sounds made by my cherrywood harp, I am confident, would do it. However, I had a feeling the heart of Ellie the Exmoor Housewife was completely lacking in stony components. I had a feeling it was made of much softer stuff.”
― Hazel Prior, Ellie and the Harpmaker

“Being alone is supposed to be an issue for people such as me, but I have to say I find it deeply satisfying. Human company is necessary at times, I admit, but it is almost irksome in one way or another.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“It’s amazing how happy you can be if only you focus on the right things.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“They’re not just full of wrinkles, they’re full of . . . stories. And so often we don’t bother to appreciate them till they’re gone.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“see that a species is its individuals. That individuals are what matter. It is men like these who cause wars, where thousands of peace-loving individuals are sacrificed for a so-called “noble” cause. History looks back and says this side won and that side lost, but the reality is that nobody wins. And what about the thousands of men and women and children who are butchered in the process? Does nobody care about them? Each one of them matters. Each and every one.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“It's been a very long time since I've had an adventure.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“Life is a careful balance of what you let out and what you hold in. In my case, it is largely about holding in. Holding in is the only way of holding together.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“Eileen, with her habitual charm, often comments that I am “as tough as old boots.” Every time she says this, I’m tempted to reply, “All the better to kick you with, my dear.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“In the wartime, everyone made sacrifices for the common good. It could be done again if only enough people cared sufficiently.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“Don’t you find that, as the years pass, you become less obsessed with yourself—and you care about other people more? As you get older it’s as if your capacity for love grows.” I am silent. I have not found this to be the case at all. Quite the reverse.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“There are three types of people in this world, Very. There are those who make the world worse, those who make no difference, and those who make the world better. Be one who makes the world better, if you can.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“Grief’s a weird animal at the best of times. It’s even weirder when you think it’s a dead certainty (pardon the pun), but then it disappears only to come hurtling right back at you. It’s like this bungee jump of emotions. You get jolted all over the place. It gives you this sick feeling in your stomach, makes you jittery and wobbly, plays havoc with your sleep patterns.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“They’re not just full of wrinkles, they’re full of . . . stories. And so often we don’t bother to appreciate them till they’re gone.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“Life can be generous. It can heal the heart and whisper that it’s always possible to start again, never too late to make a difference. It asserts that there are many, many things worth living for. And one of those things—one of the most unexpectedly joyful things of all—is penguins.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“There are three types of people in this world, Very. There are those who make the world worse, those who make no difference and those who make the world better. Be one who makes the world better, Very, if you can.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica

“You don’t know anything about other people, do you? Even the ones you know well, you don’t really have much of an idea about what makes them tick.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“The clock is ticking particularly loudly today. I dislike clocks but, like politicians and paracetamol, they have somehow made themselves indispensable in this world.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“SHALL HAVE TO muster a quite extraordinary quantity of determination. But that is always the case if you want to achieve anything at all in life.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“I know that self-control, if I can find it, will be my best ally in this situation. Success is more likely if I can achieve invisibility. I observe Mike and Dietrich. There was a time when I could easily have got my way. An opening of the eyes a little wider, a pouting of the lips and any man would have been at my beck and call. Now whatever I do seems to have the opposite effect. My only remaining power is in my purse and even that can’t work in this particular instance.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“As you see, we are a trio of feisty females of three different generations.”
― Hazel Prior, Gone with the Penguins

“Why do humans have to over-bloody-complicate every little thing? I’ve lived most of my life amongst this clutter. How the hell did I put up with it all?”
― Hazel Prior, Call of the Penguins

“Why does the future always have to come busting in and spoil everything? Life always throws problems at you, doesn’t it? Just when everything’s going swimmingly, another problem pops up, and there you are, trying your darnedest to work out what the hell you can do about it.”
― Hazel Prior, Away with the Penguins

“There may be new hope suddenly sprouting up in a heart that was convinced all humanity was bad, a heart that had grown sick of the world.”
― Hazel Prior, How the Penguins Saved Veronica