Zofia > Zofia's Quotes

“There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.”
― 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

“The car goes where the eyes go.”
― 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

“My soul has learned what it came to learn, and all the other things are just things. We can't have everything we want. Sometimes, we simply have to believe.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“[T]he race is long - to finish first, first you must finish.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“That which we manifest is before us.”
― 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

“In Mongolia, when a dog dies, he is buried high in the hills so people cannot walk on his grave. The dog’s master whispers in the dog’s ear his wishes that the dog will return as a man in his next life. Then his tail is cut off and put beneath his head, and a piece of meat of fat is cut off and placed in his mouth to sustain his soul for its journey; before he is reincarnated, the dog’s soul is freed to travel the land, to run across the high desert plains for as long as it would like.

I learned that from a program on the National Geographic Channel, so I believe it is true. Not all dogs return as men, they say; only those who are ready.

I am ready.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“We too, must shatter the mirrors. We must look in to ourselves and root out the distortions until that thing which we know in our hearts is perfect and true, stands before us.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will regain control of his vehicle.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: And therefore is love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
― William Shakespear, Hamlet

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
― William Shakespeare

“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
― William Shakespeare

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of passion.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“Carpe Diem,” Keating whispered loudly. “Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“Carpe Diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“No, I've been calm all my life! If I don't do something, it's gonna kill me!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“Na razrusha'ya. I am not ruined. E'ya razrushost. I am ruination.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but mine.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Beauty was your armor. Fragile stuff, all show. But what's inside you? That's steel. It's brave and unbreakable. And it doesn't need fixing.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“I hope you weren’t looking to me to be the voice of reason. I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising