Going to the Dogs

I love dogs and have always found quotes about dogs interesting. Primarily for what is being said, but I sometimes find who said it equally, if not more interesting. These are quotes that I have chosen to include in my memoir which is a collection of stories about the adventures, the misadventures that I have experienced with dogs.

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures;
they give unconditional love.
For me they are the role model for being alive.

Gilda Radner

Let sleeping dogs lie – who wants to rouse ‘em

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

My little dog – a heartbeat at my feet.

Edith Wharton

Cave Canem

Latin proverb meaning ‘Beware of Dog’

Every dog is a lion at home.

H.G.Bohn, Handbook of Proverbs [1855]

The poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend.

Lord Byron

Happiness is a warm puppy.

Charles Schultz

Love – that which biologists, nervous about being misunderstood, call ‘attachment’ – fuels the bond between dog and master or mistress.

John Bradshaw, Dog Sense

Like a dog, he hunts in dreams.

Alfred Tennyson, Locksley Hall [1842]

The great pleasure of a dog is that you 
may make a fool of yourself with him
and not only will he not scold you, but
he will make a fool of himself too.

Samuel Butler

I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess 
something very like a conscience.

Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man [1871]

A dog in the kitchen asks for no company.

French proverb

A house without either a dog or cat
is the house of a scoundrel.

Portuguese proverb

If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.  

Woodrow Wilson

It’s good when a dog is a friend, but it’s bad when a friend is a dog.

Anonymous

The dog is the only creature who saw his God with his own eyes.

Jack London

Qui me amat, amat et canem meum
Love me, love my dog.

St. Bernard, Sermon [ c.1155]

Recollect that the Almighty, who gave the dog to be companion of our pleasures and our tolls, hath invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit.

Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman [1825]

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will never bite you. This is the difference between a dog and a man.

Mark Twain

The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants. 

Johnny Depp

Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole.

Roger Caras

Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of all.

John Grogan, Marley & Me: Life with the world’s worst dog

I’m suspicious of people who don’t like dogs,
but I trust a dog when it doesn’t like a person.

Bill Murray

A dog is the only thing on earth 
that loves you more than he loves himself.

Josh Billings

It’s hard not to immediately fall in love
with a dog who a a good sense of humor.

Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

Everyone thinks they have the best dog.
And none of them are wrong.

W.R.Purche

Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive
evidence that you are wonderful.

Ann Landers

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight;
it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Everything I know, I learned from dogs.

Nora Ephron, The Search

People leave imprints on our lives…
Dogs, however, leave paw prints on our lives and souls,
which are as unique as fingerprints in every way.

Ashly Lorenzana

The greatest fear dogs know is the fear 
you will not come back when you go out the door without them.

Stanley Coren

Did you know there are over 300 words for love in canine?

Gabrielle Zevin, Elsewhere

When an 85 lb. mammal licks your tears away,
and then tries to sit on your lap,
it’s hard to feel sad.

Kristan Higgins

I have caught more ills from people sneezing over me
and giving me virus infections than from kissing dogs.

Barbara Woodhouse

Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.

Dean Koontz

Dogs do speak, but only to those
Who know how to listen.

Orhan Parnuk

When God created dogs. He just sat back and smiled.

Will Rogers

A dog can’t think that much about what he’s doing, 
he just does what feels right. 

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

You gonna eat that?
You gonna eat that?
You gonna eat that?

I’ll eat that.

Karen Shepard, Birch

I don’t think twice about picking up my dog’s poop, 
but if another dog’s poop is next to it, I think, ‘Eww, dog poop! 

Jonah Goldberg

The house is chaos sometimes when the dogs are trying to eat the kids’ food or jumping into the tub with them. But it’s worth it. Life with dogs is better. 

Drew Barrymore, Wildflower

I have a crippling fear of being without a dog. 

― Morgan Matson, Take Me Home Tonight

Why that dog is practically a Phi Beta Kappa
She can sit up and beg, and she can give her paw – 
I don’t say she will but she can.

Dorothy Parker

A dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way. 

Quentin Tarantino

I can’t do everything I want, but I can put a smile on my dog’s face. 
Making him happy makes me happy.

Oliver Markus Malloy, Inside the Mind of an Introvert

Don’t you know that this is the only reason we are here,
 to love one another, and to be loved? 
Why is it that what is so obvious to dogs 
is such a mystery to men and women?” 

Jennifer Finney Boylan, Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together . . .

Anonymous

My dog taught me everything I need to know. It’s okay sometimes to just eat and sleep. When you fall down, get back up, shake it off, forget about it, and go on. Be very brave no matter your size. Make your own fun. Unleash your talents. Learn new tricks no matter your age. Make new friends. Sniff out opportunities. Chase after your dreams. When loved ones come home always run to greet them. At the end of the day it’s best to snuggle no matter what happened. Every day is a brand-new day. Just be happy!

Anonymous

For the Love of Reading

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

Photo by Wendy van Zyl on Pexels.com

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”

– George R.R. Martin

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

—Joseph Addison

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

– Stephen King

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

– Ray Bradbury

A book is a dream you hold in your hands.

—Neil Gaiman

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall.”

– Roald Dahl

“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”

– Fran Lebowitz

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

– Dr. Seuss

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”

– Groucho Marx

“Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky, My pile of books is a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them.”

– Arnold Lobel

Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.

—Malorie Blackman

Reading—the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay.

—William Styron

Photo by Taryn Elliott on Pexels.com

Fear and Fortitude

It is your attitude, more than your aptitude, that will determine your altitude.

Zig Ziglar

While there’s life, there’s hope.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

…that disease, wars, the unloosened, devastating elemental forces have each and all played their part in developing and hardening man and giving him the heroic fiber.

John Burroughs

If time and space,as sages say are things which cannot be, the sun which does not feel decay no greater is than we. So why, Love, should we ever pray to live a century? The butterfly that lives a day has lived eternity.

T.S. Elliot

We will not find the inner strength to evolve to a higher level if we do not inwardly develop this profound feeling there is something higher than ourselves.

Rudolf Steiner

To me, the biggest attraction is a woman’s charisma, her soul, her inner strength.

Fabio Lanzoni

Learning from History

Hold those things that tell your history and protect them.

Maya Angelou

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

It is your attitude, more than your aptitude, that will determine your altitude.

Zig Ziglar

No sailor ever learned anything in calm seas.

Captain Lee

Men willingly believe what they wish.

Julius Caesar

The only thing new in this world is the history you don’t know.

Harry S. Truman

You may delay, but Time will not.

Benjamin Franklin

Every time history repeats itself, the price goes up.

Unknown

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.

Publilius Syrus

You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

Abraham Lincoln

Sudden events cannot be handled by the unprepared mind.

Mo Di

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Niccolo Machievelli

Listen Up

Lately, I’ve become acutely aware at what a problem our society seems to have as a whole with the ability to listen to one another. Perhaps these quotes will help.

The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent’. 

Alfred Brendel

No one is as deaf as the man who does not listen.

Proverb

Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

Stephen R. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.

Dalai Lama

Listening is about being present, not just about being quiet.

Krista Tippet

We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.

Zeno of Citium as quoted by Diogenes Laërtius

It takes a great man to be a good listener.

Calvin Coolidge

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.

Doug Larsen

One of the most sincerest forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.

Bryant H. McGill

If speaking is silver, than listening is gold.

Turkish Proverb

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Winston Churchill

Big egos have little ears.

Robert Schuller

Whoever answers before listening is both foolish and shameful.

Proverbs 18:13

You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.

M. Scott Peck

Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens.

Jimi Hendrix

The Journey Begins

I just migrated Xine’s Collection of Quotations over to wordpress, thanks for joining me on this platform! I have always loved reading quotes, probably because I would sometimes struggle for the words myself and others seemed to be able to put things so eloquently. I look forward to sharing with everyone in this community my favorite quotations and I hope others will share their favorite quotes with me in the comments.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

The Power Tie

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
~Herbert Spencer

 

Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless. ~Warren Buffett

There a man never attains virtue and excellence through power; rather he attains power and authority through his virtue…study wisdom, therefore, and when you have learnt it, do not neglect it, for I say to you without hesitation that you can attain authority through wisdom. ~ Ælfred, The Great (849-899AD)

Ælfred, The Great

 

There are few fields of endeavor where history counts so little as in finance.
~John Kenneth Galbraith

A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men. ~Thomas Carlyle

 

Who lies for you will lie against you. ~Bosnian proverb

 

Huge markets attract people who measure themselves by money. If someone goes through life and measures themselves solely by how much they have, or how much money they earned last year, sooner or later they’re going to end up in trouble ~Warren Buffett

It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, there would be no history. Without that hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness. Without that dream, there would be no love, for every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive. ~Greg David Roberts, Shantaram

Government Rules

American Flag Bubbled

 

 

[The United Soviet States of America] would come about as a result of various capitalist crises, the national government would assume more and more control over the economy…….In finance……. it will mean the nationalization of the banking system and its concentration around a central State bank….
~William Z. Foster, Communist Party boss Toward Soviet America,  

Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosper by letting the Government take care of him, better take a closer look at the American Indian.
~ Henry Ford

 We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can’t see this is probably hoping it isn’t true. If we permit Mr. Obama to take over all our industries, if we permit him to raise our taxes to support unconstitutional causes, then we will be in default. This great America will become a paralyzed nation.
~ Jon Voight

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
-Thomas Jefferson

 

The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.
-Samuel Adams

 History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.
~Douglas MacArthur 

 We have never stopped sin by passing laws; and in the same way, we are not going to take a great moral ideal and achieve it merely by law.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

 In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves…self-discipline with all of them came first.
~Harry S. Truman

“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
― Adolf Hitler

 “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.”
― Adolf Hitler

 The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let’s not have any native militia or native police.
~Adolf Hitler, Hitler’s Table Talk, 1941-1944: Secret Conversations with the English translation copyright1953 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

 

The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.
-Thomas Jefferson

With self-discipline most anything is possible.
~Theodore Roosevelt

Let there be Peace

It’s been a very difficult week here in Connecticut. Last week less than 30 miles away from my home was the site of the second worse school shooting in our nation’s history.  20 small children between the ages of 6 and 7 were gunned down in their classroom. 6 female educators were gunned down trying to protect the school children.  It’s a tragedy that knocks you off balance and shakes you to your very core.

It’s in times like these that I look to things that are comforting. Readings which provide some sort of guidance, faith or hope.  With Christmas around the corner these quickly came to mind.

“When you give something, just for the joy of creating, it always comes back on a much larger scale.” —Ji Lee

“Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking.

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts.

But especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. Its his birthday we’re celebrating. Don’t let us ever forget that.

Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shinning gifts that make peace on earth. ”
— The Christmas Sermon in the movie, The Bishop’s Wife

Bill Murray plays Francis Xavier Cross in the classic Christmas movie, Scroogred, by far one of my absolute favorites.  It’s a wonderful 1988 parody on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  The speech at the end of the movie is fantastically written and makes the point very clear.

[Frank X Cross]: “I’m not crazy. It’s Christmas Eve. It’s the one night when we all act a little nicer.  We…we smile a little easier. We…we…share a little more. For a couple of hours we are the people we always hoped we would be. It’s really a miracle because it happens every Christmas Eve. And if you waste that miracle, you’re gonna burn for it. I know. You have to do something. You have to take a chance and get involved. There are people that don’t have enough to eat and who are cold. You can go and greet these people. Take an old blanket out to them or make a sandwich and say, “Here.” “l get it now.” And if you give, then it can happen, the miracle can happen to you. Not just the poor and hungry, Everybody’s gotta have this miracle! It can happen tonight for you all! If you believe in this pure thing, the miracle will happen and you’ll want it again tomorrow! You won’t say, “Christmas is once a year and it’s a fraud.” It’s not! It can happen every day! You’ve just got to want that feeling! You’ll want it every day! It can happen to you! I believe in it now. I believe it’s gonna happen to me, now. I’m ready for it! And it’s great. It’s a good feeling. It’s better than I’ve felt in a long time. I’m ready. Have a Merry Christmas. Everybody… Did I forget something, big man?

[Calvin] “God bless us, every one.“

Circumstances Beyond Our Control

Recently my son, 18 yrs old was injured again while playing lacrosse. This is the fourth injury in four years! The first was the last week of the season he received a concussion which took him out of school for a few days. The second was the first game of his sophomore year when he received a concussion so sever he was out of school for 24 days and took months to fully recover.  The third was during preseason when he tore his ACL. He is a senior now and decided to take the field one more season with his friends and teammates. Traditionally he had always been a long pole defense man but in order to protect his knee he hopped into the goal. He was having a fantastic season and with just two weeks left in the season he was knocked from behind upon coming out of goal and has now injured his “good” knee. We won’t know until the MRI results are back whether he will require surgery or not; my hope is obviously no surgery and just plenty of physical therapy. Keeping my fingers crossed.  The fortune cookie quoted below ironically was his last night which is why I dedicated this to him.

When you learn to be flexible, amazing opportunities reveal themselves! ~Fortune Cookie

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances. ~ Martha Washington

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.  ~ Horace 

Stop blaming outside circumstances for your inside chaos. ~ Steve Maraboli  

Expect the best, prepare for the worst. ~ Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.  ~ Arthur Golden 

We should be inspired by people… who show that human beings can be kind, brave, generous, beautiful, strong-even in the most difficult circumstances.  ~ Rachel Corrie 

To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.  ~ Confucius 

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.  ~ William Arthur Ward 

Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control. ~ Richard Kline 

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man… It is more powerful than external circumstances.  ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca 

There is no education like adversity.  ~ Benjamin Disraeli 

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. ~ Maya Angelou

Making an awesome save!

Update on May 19, 2012 – He tore the ACL and does need surgery on the 23rd.

What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger? ~ Friedrich Neitzche 

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi