Sara > Sara's Quotes

“Here's why I will be a good person. Because I listen. I cannot talk, so I listen very well. I never deflect the course of the conversation with a comment of my own. People, if you pay attention to them, change the direction of one another's conversations constantly. It's like being a passenger in your car who suddenly grabs the steering wheel and turns you down a side street. For instance, if we met at a party and I wanted to tell you a story about the time I needed to get a soccer ball in my neighbor's yard but his dog chased me and I had to jump into a swimming pool to escape, and I began telling the story, you, hearing the words "soccer" and "neighbor" in the same sentence, might interrupt and mention that your childhood neighbor was Pele, the famous soccer player, and I might be courteous and say, Didn't he play for the Cosmos of New York? Did you grow up in New York? And you might reply that, no, you grew up in Brazil on the streets of Tres Coracoes with Pele, and I might say, I thought you were from Tennessee, and you might say not originally, and then go on to outline your genealogy at length. So my initial conversational gambit - that I had a funny story about being chased by my neighbor's dog - would be totally lost, and only because you had to tell me all about Pele. Learn to listen! I beg of you. Pretend you are a dog like me and listen to other people rather than steal their stories.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live. To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life. To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am. I am. That is something to aspire to.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“So much of language is unspoken. So much of language is compromised of looks and gestures and sounds that are not words. People are ignorant of the vast complexity of their own communication.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“I don't understand why people insist on pitting concepts of evolution and creation against each other. Why can't they see that spiritualism and science are one? That bodies evolve and souls evolve and the universe is a fluid package that marries them both in a wonderful package called a human being. What's wrong with that idea?”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“You should shine with all of your light all the time.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“I suddenly realized. The zebra. It is not something outside of us. The zebra is something inside of us. Our fears. Our own self-destructive nature. The zebra is the worst part of us when we are face-to-face with our worst times. The demon is us!”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“The car goes where the eyes go.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“People are always worried about what's happening next. They often find it difficult to stand still, to occupy the now without worrying about the future. People are generally not satisfied with what they have; they are very concerned with what they are going to have.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“People and their rituals. They cling to things so hard sometimes.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“This is a rule of racing: No race has ever been won in the first corner; many have been lost there.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“We had a good run, and now it’s over; what’s wrong with that?”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Here is why I will be a good person. Because I listen. I cannot speak so I listen very well. I never interrupt, I never deflect the course of the conversation with a comment of my own.

...I beg of you, pretend you are a dog like me and LISTEN to other people rather than steal their stories.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Many of us have convinced ourselves that compromise is necessary to achieve our goals, that all of our goals are not attainable so we should eliminate the extraneous, prioritize our desires, and accept less than the moon.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“She was my rain. She was my unpredictable element. She was my fear. But a racer should not be afraid of rain; a racer should embrace the rain.”
― garth stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Your car goes where your eyes go.

Lonliness is unable to survive without a willing host.”
― Garth Stein

“Sometimes there's no right decision. Just the one you make at the time.”
― Phaedra Patrick, The Library of Lost and Found

“Books are more than doctors, of course. Some novels are loving, lifelong companions; some give you a clip around the ear; others are friends who wrap you in warm towels when you've got those autumn blues. And some...well, some are pink candy floss that tingles in your brain for three seconds and leaves a blissful voice. Like a short, torrid love affair.”
― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop

“The only ghosts that existed were in your head. They spoke through you, not to you.”
― Alex North, The Whisper Man

“Yes. That's a sensible way of looking at it. People worry too much about the nature of things. Sometimes it's better just to go with them.”
― Alex North, The Whisper Man

“It always comes back to me for you, doesn't it? It always ends where it starts.”
― Alex North, The Whisper Man