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The Dog
Steven James Taylor
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Why, Daddy?” she asked. She still had that strange look on her face. “Why do dogs die so young? Shadow was only seventeen. He was not even as old as my babysitter.” “To teach us,” he said. “Teach us what, Daddy?” “Compassion,” he replied. “But why, Daddy?” she asked. “So that we might be kinder. So we might make the world kinder. They leave, but they leave us with their lesson. All great teachers do that.” “Yes,” said Emma. “He was a good teacher to me too. He was also a wonderful runway model.” He handed her the polaroid. She examined its rivulets and splotches. She put her thumb on the smudges, rubbing them. To Theo, it seemed she knew of the eyes and mouth that once had been. Then the full gravity of the circumstance fell upon her. Emma wept. She was now a girl with a crack in her heart. The sorrows of the world were now available to her. Soon, she would know their beauty.”
“There was nothing of which to be afraid. The only thing to fear was the evil men did because they believed the dark cloak of night, like Ted did, covered their offenses.”
“Theo was struck by his dog, even in death. For while Theo was away at school or sleeping or distracted, Shadow, well, Shadow was still out there in the neighborhood, making friends.”
“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.”
“She would talk of castles and princesses and a woman named Scheherazade who had a thousand and one stories to tell. Shadow loved it when Emma told him her dreams. With her little warm fingers, Emma stroked his head as if he were but a puppy with all the strength of his youth yet to come, for the greatest joy in life is the conviction that we are loved in spite of ourselves. His legs may have been faded yellow but Shadow knew that he was loved by Theo’s daughter.”
“Master the dog, and in so doing you shall master yourself.”
“It is impossible to stop cadence. A bell rings long after the clapper hits the cup.”
“I have been fortunate, he thought. I have known many mothers. Alice and Lora and Oota Dabun, but I will always recall my first mom when I was but a Lost Boy. Of all my mothers, I will always remember my Wendy most.”
“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.”
“Every rhythm prepares a future.”
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Book Keywords:
master, tourists, mothers, soul, remembrance, destroy-time, deception, friends, evil, stop-time, compassion, old-age, master-yourself, future, travelers, rhythm, dogs, darkness, memory, sorrow, teacher, discipline, love, cadence, bell, dog