Eric Mull > Eric's Quotes

“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.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“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.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“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.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“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.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“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.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“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.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Master the dog, and in so doing you shall master yourself.”
― Steven James Taylor, the dog

“Love is the reason why, even in suffering, we smile.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, The Address Of Happiness

“Tears are another river that takes us home. We become alive with tears. There isn’t a chance to return to sleep when we are weeping.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, The Address Of Happiness

“Heroes do not dwell in a time of peace; heroes are hardened in a kiln against the sorrows. Their troubles sharpen the blade and make it gleaming. The glint becomes a brightness that is raised high on a hill, allowing women and men to see beyond themselves. For light swallows darkness. Truth buries death. Heroes are not born. They are filled by Music.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, The Address Of Happiness

“Love is the reason why, in confusion, we understand.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, The Address Of Happiness

“For human beings must be served, not exploited, honored, not manipulated.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, The Address Of Happiness

“Dogs were once wolves.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog

“We did it, boy,” she said. Her words pricked his ears. He watched her radiant smile. “Theo is a lover,” she whispered.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog

“All life is sacred! Even the blessed earth you take into your mouth.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog

“Master the dog and you shall master yourself.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog

“This dog, who shall be under your care, belongs to the best of humankind’s creation. For man transformed that which he feared into something which could love him. The dog, Theo, is the great witness to the one truth. There is but the one truth. Four words like my tale. The truth is this: Love triumphs over fear.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog

“All the forgotten beauty of his twenty-nine years poured over Theo. The beauty of such memory filled him. He watched as the white cat with the electric-blue eyes turned away. There, in front of the cat, stood the bright bridge, the tie between the immense eternities, of time before birth, of time after death. The ghosts of the yet-to-be-born and the ghosts of the dead both hovered amidst the white-breasted nuthatches poking their pecking beaks into the snow, searching for seed.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog

“Shadow’s heart stopped. While Theo did not observe it with his eyes, he felt the life juice leave the dog’s body. In the final shudder of the death throe, Shadow gave up his ghost.”
― David Paul Kirkpatrick, the dog