Danielle

“Baleia queria dormir. Acordaria feliz, num mundo cheio de preás. E lamberia as mãos de Fabiano, um Fabiano enorme. As crianças se espojariam com ela, rolariam com ela num pátio enorme, num chiqueiro enorme. O mundo ficaria todo cheio de preás, gordos, enormes.”
― Graciliano Ramos, Vidas Secas

“Deu um pontapé na cachorra, que se afastou humilhada e com sentimentos revolucionários.”
― Graciliano Ramos, Vidas Secas

“Iam-se amodorrando e foram despertados por Baleia, que trazia nos dentes um preá. Levantaram-se todos gritando. O menino mais velho esfregou as pálpebras, afastando pedaços de sonho. Sinha Vitória beijava o focinho de Baleia, e como o focinho estava ensanguentado, lambia o sangue e tirava proveito do beijo.”
― Graciliano Ramos, Vidas Secas

“A cowboy is someone who loves his work. Since the hours are long—ten to fifteen hours a day—and the pay is $30 he has to.
What's required of him is an odd mixture of physical vigor and maternalism. His part of the beef-raising industry is to birth and
nurture calves and take care of their mothers. For the most part his work is done on horseback and in a lifetime he sees and comes to know more animals than people. The iconic myth surrounding him is built on American notions of heroism: the index of a man's value as measured in physical courage. Such ideas have perverted manliness into a self-absorbed race for cheap thrills. In a rancher's world, courage has less to do with facing danger than with acting
spontaneously—usually on behalf of an animal or another rider. If a cow is stuck in a bog hole he throws a loop around her neck,
takes his dally (a half hitch around the saddle horn), and pulls her out with horsepower. If a calf is born sick, he may take her home,
warm her in front of the kitchen fire, and massage her legs until dawn. One friend, whose favorite horse was trying to swim a lake with hobbles on, dove under water and cut her legs loose with a knife, then swam her to shore, his arm around her neck lifeguard-style, and saved her from drowning. Because these incidents are usually linked to someone or something outside himself, the westerner's courage is selfless, a form of compassion.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces