Unbreakable Quotes

“Lata Brandisova was indeed, as Kocman said, 'A noble lady of rare spirit.' But the nobility that defined her was not that of a countess. What would be the point of telling her story, if that were all? She was noble in a rarer, more precious way. Hers was the same brave, loyal spirit that animates the great heart of a horse.”
― Richard Askwith, Unbreakable

“My eyes wander again to that faded photograph, mentioned much earlier, of Lata and Norma, head by head, radiant in the glow of their great triumph. It is, I realize, a picture of two friends: equals; perhaps even kindred spirits. Lata's gift for seeing through equine eyes was not simply a means to an end. In some ways, I suspect, it was more basic than that: the worldview of the horse actually overlapped her own.”
― Richard Askwith, Unbreakable

“There are so many people today who complain about absolutely everything,' Martina Ruzickova-Jelinkova told me once. 'Yet this woman, who had so much to complain about, never did. I find it very moving.' So, suddenly, do I. Lata was extraordinary not just in what she achieved but in how she lived. She gave what she had to give dreamed and chased improbable dreams, suffered what she had to suffer, and did what she believed was her duty. Each time she encountered a setback, she picked herself up and resumed her journey. She never complained; just quiet endured what was asked of her, as a solider does; or -- in another biblical phrase that must have been to familiar to her -- as a good and faithful servant does.”
― Richard Askwith, Unbreakable

“One mystery remains: if the horse is so noble, why is it so biddable? Why does it submit to the constant diversion of its gifts to serve human ends? Is it stupid? Is it servile? Some would say so. Yet the same evidence can be interpreted in the opposite way: perhaps the horse submits because this capacity for patient, loyal, uncomplaining service is another facet of its nobility -- perhaps even its essence.
Lata understood that. She understood the paradox of what used to be called horsemanship: the fact that the horse must choose to do as it is asked.”
― Richard Askwith, Unbreakable