Brief Cases (The Dresden Files, #15.1)

by Jim Butcher

“I do not require enjoyment to thrive.

But feeling true isn’t the same as being true. In fact, feelings don’t have very much to do with the truth at all.

You humans have the potential to be the most wonderful beings there are—if you can get past all these enormous stupid spots you seem to have in your hearts.

It’s not your fault. You just don’t know how to work your hearts right yet. That’s why there are dogs. I think it’s nice to know your purpose.

sometimes humans are slow to figure things out, because they are heart-stupid. You are, too. That’s okay. Just get a dog. Dogs can teach you all kinds of things about your heart.

Nothing is truly safe in this world—and that being the case, why worry about threats that have not yet appeared? Far wiser to make what preparations one could, face trouble as it arose, and be happy in the meantime. That might be the saddest part of human heart-stupidity: how much happiness you simply leave aside so that you have enough time to worry.

Evil left unconfronted only grows stronger.

“We were made to be dogs,” I said, as gently as I could. “To love. To show others how to love. To be guardians. To be examples.”