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The Dog QUOTES

The Dog QUOTES

1 " Theo continued weeping, and with each tear, he marched his way into manhood. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

2 " Theo often walked barefoot. He loved the cold ooze of the marsh at his toes. He felt the knowingness of the wild grass against his foot pads. Beneath his growing body, toiling the deep soil, the earthworms wriggled, ruled by the thrum-ming of consciousness reserved especially for their species. The rhythms shot straight to his own body. When he walked barefoot with Shadow, he felt the connection between him, his dog, and the heaven beneath his feet. He felt the connection not only with his dog but with all dogs. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

3 " Every rhythm prepares a future. The prayers sung, the drums that beat around the stone circle of the fire pit so long ago, still rang. In the icy air, Shadow felt the tremendous rhythm of Thunderbird’s wings beating at his own ribs. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

4 " Shadow loved Emma. She was an innocent. She was a girl without a crack in her heart. He wore the space helmet. He wore the red lipstick. Largely, the lipstick was scrawled onto his old teeth, for Emma had not yet learned to color inside the lines. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

5 " That is the one thing sorrow surely does—in our pain, it reveals the deep treasures of this marred and beautiful world. And guides like Shadow do this for us—they make us travelers. They break our hearts so we can flow to the greater heart where happiness, too, becomes a sacred matter. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

6 " It is impossible to stop cadence. A bell rings long after the clapper hits the cup. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

7 " It would have been easy for Theo to grow ironic. He could walk through life with a paradoxical chip on his shoulder, with skin like armor. But Alice did not want to raise a boy who looked at life askew. Alice wanted her son to greet the day with elation. She wanted to raise her boy into a wholesome man. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

8 " He tried?” she screamed. “It is not enough to try!” she screamed again. “He promised me! He promised us! "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

9 " You know what Mrs. Shure, the librarian, told me?” “What’s that, Theo?” his father asked.
“God does not make junk.”
Ted stared into his tumbler, the dwindling ice cubes sloshing at the bottom of the glass. His fidget finger tapped at the glass. Knocking the ice against the wall of the tumbler and turning his face upward, Ted looked at Theo.
“Therefore, I am not junk,” said Theo.
“Yuh.”
“And I came from you. You are not junk either, Dad. Just because you didn’t shoot a gun in France or just because you didn’t become an engineer, doesn’t mean you are any less than any other man. Dad, both you and I have made mistakes, but we are not junk. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

10 " Never look back unless backwards is your destination. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

11 " Still, the comfort in his small bed made Theo feel tragic, his mattress a coffin, the bludgeoning rain his burial soil. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

12 " Every thought you have, every move you make, is like a pebble dropped into water, Theo. It continues to make ripples. That’s why it is so important your rhythms be true to life’s Spirit. For in that way, your future will always rest in compassion. For such is life’s Spirit. It is the spirit of compassion. May this office and your cadence thrum with the kindness of your holy hands, Dr. Snow. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

13 " No, no,” howled Shadow. “Do not keep me here!”
“Do you not love the boy?” said the voice of the sea.
“Love is terrible!” Shadow howled.
“I know,” replied the sea.
“It is full of hurt.”
“It is. But do you not love the boy?”
“I do love the boy!” the dog cried.
“You cannot leave the boy in this storm, not if you truly love him,” she said. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

14 " Theo cast his emerald eyes back to the girl at the order window. He could hardly breathe. Her radiance was as inescapable as the sun. Love is never stronger than the love in the young. There, love is unreasonable and preposterous and beautiful. Theo did not realize it at the time, but his young self was dying inside to the man he would become. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

15 " To take their land we called them ‘demons,’ ‘savages.’ It is easy to kill a demon. It is much harder to kill a man. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

16 " Have you ever walked with your dog on a summer’s morning on the seashore? Or walked with him on an autumn’s afternoon when the leaves are in full color?”
Inevitably, the client would say yes.
“And did it sometimes feel that all of Nature was your own room? That you could be there forever?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s what dogs do. They destroy time. "

― Steven James Taylor , The Dog

17 " She brought a chicken from the coop to the chopping block. She kissed the hen’s beak in gratitude, knowing the hen would nourish many youngsters through her sacrifice.

After the blessing, Oota Dabun took an ax to the hen’s neck. The death was instant. Painless. Such is the mercy that comes from the slayer who knows one day he or she shall also be slain. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

18 " We were put on this magical planet, not to dominate and consume her, but to care for her and love her. To harrow gently. To harvest gratefully. To build reasonably. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

19 " What good are we if we can't imagine? "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog

20 " Quiet breathed like some darkening monster at the window of Theo’s mind
He could not say “bad dog.”
He could not say “good boy.”
He could not say anything.
. "

― David Paul Kirkpatrick , The Dog