Walter Farley > Quotes

“I believe that half the trouble in the world comes from people asking 'What have I achieved?' rather than 'What have I enjoyed?' I've been writing about a subject I love as long as I can remember--horses and the people associated with them, anyplace, anywhere, anytime. I couldn't be happier knowing that young people are reading my books. But even more important to me is that I've enjoyed so much the writing of them.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“His mane was like a crest, mounting, then falling low. His neck was long and slender, and arched to the small, savagely beautiful head. The head was that of the wildest of all wild creatures- a stallion born wild- and it was beautiful, savage, splendid. A stallion with a wonderful physical perfection that matched his savage, ruthless spirit.”
― Walter Farley

“You've never in your life seen a horse run so fast! He's all power-all beauty.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“Antago”
― Walter Farley, The Island Stallion's Fury

“stopwatch”
― Walter Farley, Black Stallion and Satan

“Arabia—where the greatest horses in the world were bred!”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“Its hold was loaded with coffee, rice, tea, oil seeds and jute. Black smoke poured from its one stack, darkening the hot cloudless sky. Alexander”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“frog. It was this spongelike rubber cushion that absorbed the first terrific shock of a thousand-pound horse galloping over a hard surface at high speed.”
― Walter Farley, Man O'War

“Dedicated to all boys and girls who love horses but never have had one of their own”
― Walter Farley, The Island Stallion

“beautiful head. The head was that of the wildest of all wild creatures—a stallion born wild—and it was beautiful, savage, splendid. A stallion with a wonderful physical perfection that matched his savage, ruthless spirit.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“The Black was looking out on the open sea; his ears pricked forward, his thin-skinned nostrils quivering, his black mane flowing like windswept flame. Alec could not turn his eyes away; he could not believe such a perfect creature existed.”
― Walter Farley

“Yet when books have been read and reread, it boils down to the horse, his human companion, and what goes on between them.”
― Walter Farley

“He opened his eyes to see the dented skull cap, still on the chair where Henry had left it. He looked at it a long while, knowing that it was far better to accept it than to turn away and forever fear it.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Filly

“Alexander Ramsay, known to his friends back home in New York City as Alec,”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“You need luck to keep going. It takes more than skill to stay alive.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion Challenged

“were the cribbers, Danny decided, those who took hold of some part of their stall while inhaling and swallowing deep drafts of air with a grunting sound.”
― Walter Farley, Man O'War

“Black Minx never moved. She seemed to know what this was all about. She accepted their offerings, their embraces, in a very queenly way. Her manner indicated that she was getting only what was long due her, and that she had known all along no colt would beat her in the Kentucky Derby.
Perhaps she had known. Alec and Henry wouldn't have been surprised. She was that kind of girl.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Filly

“There was a lot more to it than he had ever thought. First, he used a rub-rag, cleaning Red’s head gently but not too rapidly. He went behind the ears and under the halter, then moved on to the neck, chest, and shoulders before whisking off the stall dust from the back. Then he went down the thighs to the legs, holding the hind leg a few inches above the hock in order to deflect the leg if the colt tried to kick him. As well as Man o’ War knew him, there was always the possibility of being kicked, for every horse was apt to act on impulse.”
― Walter Farley, Man O'War

“They took pictures of Henry as he sat in the old canvas chair before the stall.
'Cross your knees and look sly,' they told Henry.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Filly

“On his office wall he had a note to himself: 'Money is necessary--but it isn't too important.' Money meant for him to keep on writing and to go his own way.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“On January 1, 1919, all the yearlings in the big stable celebrated their second birthday. It didn’t matter that all of them had some months to go before they were actually two years of age. Officially, in the eyes of the Thoroughbred Racing Association, they were two-year-olds, grown up and old enough to begin their racing careers the following spring.”
― Walter Farley, Man O'War

“skeptical,”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“high and none of the pasture fences could hold him. He therefore ordered the old man to hobble him for fear the young stallion would rake”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion Mystery

“again”
― Walter Farley, Son of the Black Stallion

“Show me you’re a Derby horse and you’ll go—only then will you go!” became Henry’s attitude.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Filly

“This is my colt,” he wanted to shout to those around him. “This is the result of all I’ve worked for. Look upon him. He carries the blood of the finest mare I ever bred and raced. No, not a great mare. She saved her greatness for her colt, this colt in whose blood along with hers is that of a fine stallion. A great stallion but one never before bred to a harness mare; therefore untried and unsought by the rest of you who seek change only by turning night into day with your bright lights and fancy frills! You seek perfection in the extravaganza of your colored stages such as this. I seek it in a horse. And there he is. Look upon him, all of you!”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt

“Look upon him, all of you!”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt

“Rock of Gibraltar”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

“Lady Lee is a narrow-fronted, slab-sided filly but she’s game.”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion's Filly

“The stallion paid not the slightest attention to him. The gray ran with his ears back, his teeth snapping in rage between the boards because he knew the stallion’s savage intent, and could do nothing to keep him from the black horse beyond. The gelding stopped when he came to the end of his enclosure. He neighed loudly and incessantly, knowing this was the only useful thing he could do. But his warnings of the disturbed peace were deadened by the force of the wind. The house and barn remained dark. Turning from the dirt road, the tall stallion ran down the corridor between the paddocks. Every possible precaution had been taken to make the paddocks foolproof, to keep one stallion from another, to forestall just such an emergency as this. The”
― Walter Farley, The Black Stallion Revolts