" Nature was a green battlefield where the weak were forever preyed on by the strong. Nature did not care, nor did the earth, which for all its beauty was nonetheless a hard place, indifferent to its creatures.
It was mind that mattered, mind that cared, mind that loved, the best works of the mind that changed this hard world for the better.
Mind—and the heart—had bonded people and dogs for tens of thousands of years. They had formed an alliance for survival and a covenant of affection against the darkness of the world. "

― Dean Koontz , Devoted