Barbara > Barbara's Quotes

“All of a sudden I found I was hoping against hope that the penguin would survive, because, as of that instant, he had a name and his name was Juan Salvador Pinguino and with his name came a surge of hope and the beginning of a bond that would last a lifetime. That was the moment at which he became my penguin, and whatever the future held, we'd face it together.”
― Tom Michell, The Penguin Lessons

“Harmony, like a following breeze
at sea, is the exception.”
― Harvey Oxenhorn, Tuning the Rig: A Journey to the Arctic

“Viewed from above, on the mainmast shroud, they seemed suddenly so small, this little circle, making music, clustered on a floating stage, with the ocean darkening all around and the land behind dissolving into memory. Most of the faces of the people below were in shadow, individual features fading, chins and hair and noses lit by the red glimmer like heads around a hearth.”
― Harvey Oxenhorn, Tuning the Rig: A Journey to the Arctic

“The night's real hero is Regina. Guided by hands that knew her and respected her limits, she seemed alive in her element, like a conscious being. She had been through this, and much more, a hundred times and knew exactly what to do. Her every spar, block, bolt is an optimal solution, an age-old answer to the single question it is asked, perfected over time. Together, these parts embody the experience of thousands over centuries. Today I feel bound to them, and in their debt, for the courage and craft that even in death give service.”
― Harvey Oxenhorn, Tuning the Rig: A Journey to the Arctic

“The trainer Tony Illey has said, “The most difficult thing I ever saw a dog do was bring a ewe who’d just lost her lamb through a field full of lambing ewes.”
Let me offer a gloss: Ewes with new lambs are extremely protective of their lambs and often charge a dog. When they lose sight of their lamb, they assume the dog has killed it, and despite his teeth will try determinedly to trample him. A ewe who’s lost her lamb will rush back and forth seeking it, bleating to other newborn lambs trying to collect one. The other mothers are confused by this, and when the dog gets near them they, too, go on the attack.
Unlike Tony Illey, I don’t think what this dog did was difficult. It was impossible. Knowing that the dog can read sheep better than any man and can react much quicker than any man, what commands would you give him?
Correct answer: his name.”
― Donald McCaig, Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men: Searching Through Scotland For A Border Collie

“Like well-adjusted children, dogs require significant training and supervision. They must be fed, watered, and exercised every single day. They need love, lots and lots of love, and they need to know you are there for them. In other words, caring for a dog is not a hobby or a part-time responsibility – it’s a real relationship.

This is somewhat true of cats, as well. The relationship maybe weirdly one-sided and kind of embarrassing, but you still have to turn up.”
― Bradley Trevor Greive, Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

“A dog’s demonstrative behavior, far from indicating any inability to reason, is a measure of their enormous compassion, optimism, hope, and a capacity for forgiveness that should leave us all withered with shame.”
― Bradley Trevor Greive, Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

“How could such adoration and devotion ever be a bad thing? Because so many dog owners are unworthy of it. We are shamed by our dog’s loyalty, and we know, deep in our hearts, we will never measure up to it. In a fractured, impersonal world like ours, such a precious gift should be treasured, and yet so many of us take it for granted. Worse of all, we turn it against our dogs, repaying loyalty with mistreatment and neglect.”
― Bradley Trevor Greive, Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

“The dead are never far from us. They're in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath, one final puff of air.”
― William Kent Krueger, Ordinary Grace