Quotes from Simon Garfield's 'The Pen'

I have just started reading Simon Garfield's The Pen: A Human History. As you might know, I like fountain pens. I've been into fountain pens for nearly 25 years and even though I've not bought one in some time, I'm very happy with the ones I own. I've only read 17% of the book so far. It's written by someone who obviously cares about the subject. These are some quotes that I noted when reading the book. There is more to read about the book on Simon Garfield's site. Q: And presumably you learned somehow not to get ink all over your hands and all over your clothes? A: Nobody ever learned that. It’s not learnable. —Margaret Atwood, interview with the author The book will also find room for creative extravagance (is there a diamond or ruby that Italian pen makers Montegrappa won’t put on a pen?), and there’s space for the absurd (the phallicity of Sigmund Freud’s Montblanc; the existential dilemma of a felt pen in a space rocket). This industry was far from dead, a point emphasised by the…

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