Susan Lennon

“Do you know what makes for a good still life? I’ll tell you: it’s when the painter manages to convey a sense that something is about to happen. The objects in the painting all look immobile, but as you contemplate them you begin to feel that at any moment there could be movement. Somebody might come into the room. A storm might blow up outside. The wind will move the curtains. All of these things might happen.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Second-Worst Restaurant in France

“When we give up on teaching (and, therefore, on those we need to teach), we tend to manoeuvre around the objects of our despair. We tell them their work is OK, but silently redo it with other colleagues. We set up secret side groups. It’s meant to be a collaboration between twenty equals. But we go out and hire two external consultants. It sounds Machiavellian – but it’s merely the outcome of a very nervous personality with low faith in others and in the chances of working through problems. In their personal lives, such types might be married but seek a lover: for they have areas of disappointment and anger they have never found ways of discussing – and it seemed better to steer around the conflict and take a lover to soak up some of the disappointment.”
― The School of Life, Calm

“Or was it that people, for all they wished their friends well, never actually wished them that well?”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Department of Sensitive Crimes

“Never change for anyone but yourself. Any soul worth their star-stuff will take the whole package as is and however it grows. Don’t waste your time on anyone who doesn’t believe you when you tell them how you feel.”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea