John Grogan Quotations

Many of the qualities that come so effortlessly to dogs - loyalty, devotion, selflessness, unflagging optimism, unqualified love - can be elusive to humans.

Dogs are a really amazing eye opener for us humans because their lives are compressed into such a short period, so we can see them go from puppyhood to adolescence to strong adulthood and then into their sunset years in 10 to 12 years. It really drives home the point of how finite all our lives are.

I collect old rusty hand tools and sharpen and polish them, then use them to build things out of walnut and cherry that I harvest from fallen trees in the woods.

I take a lot of satisfaction in trying to make my land as self-contained as possible, its own little mini environment. Minimal outputs; minimal inputs.

A dog is the greatest gift a parent can give a child. OK, a good education, then a dog.

Certain people are not going to connect with a book about the effect a dog has on a family. But every one of us has parents and has either said goodbye to those parents or knows that someday they will.

Even though I'm totally dependent on modern electronic gizmos, from my laptop to my iPod to my cell phone, I love to embrace old technology or no technology at all.

Really, as a writer, I believe that if you're going to write about your own life, you need to do it as honestly and candidly as you are capable.

I can't solve the world's problems, can't even begin to contemplate them all. But on my little corner of Earth, I at least can try to live in a way that treads lightly.

Before moving to Pennsylvania in 1999, I played bass in a newsroom rock band in South Florida for several years.

I confess to being a CNN junkie. And when I'm driving, it's all NPR all the time.

I was keenly aware that everybody would have loved for me to do a close sequel or a spin-off to 'Marley and Me.'

I'm pathologically incapable of making decisions. Just ask my wife how long it took me to propose - on second thought, best not to bring it up.

Living organically is my way of feeling connected to the earth and my own humanity. It's how I feel balanced and at peace with the planet.

'Marley and Me' was a book I was proud of and believed in, but I thought it would just have a modest audience because it is such a personal story about my marriage and my family.

I was pretty confident the book would be big, but not this big, Marley & Me.

I was pretty confident it was going to do pretty well, but I had no idea it was going to jump to the top of the best-seller list.

He was locked in here. The wood door frame was totally gone to the studs.

Marley strolled like a runaway locomotive strolls. (He) was young and wired, with the attention span of algae and the volatility of nitroglycerine.

I thought it would be a walk in the park. But every line, every phrase has to count when you're writing for children.

When I wrote 'Marley & Me,' I had a clear audience in mind. And it did not include children. I wrote my book for adults and assumed only adults, and possibly teenagers, would be drawn to it.

Dori is a good person with character. You will notice the little things with her team. Her players will go after a loose ball which rolls out of bounds and hand it to a referee, or they always make sure they tuck their shirts in and are always polite. Those things are even more important than what she's taught them on the court.

Early in his life I thought there may be a collection of stories about the dog but I didn't realize what it would be until he died . Despite his antics, he brought great joy into our lives.

There's millions of people who clearly understand that a pet is a pet and yet still find themselves really falling in love with these animals. I think I gave voice to that phenomenon.

It would be very effective if the pub industry joined the other groups in campaigning for a total ban.

As many as 70 percent of kids drop out of sports by the age of 13, and that's a huge issue.

A ban would have been inconceivable 10 years ago. Opposition to smoking goes across the range of ages and social classes.

It looked like the Jaws of Life had pulled it open.

I want it real bad. I worked really hard these four years of high school, and we finally have the chance to be there, so I don't want to waste it.

Social attitudes have changed. This would have been inconceivable a decade ago. Now there are more women in Parliament and opposition to smoking goes across the range of age and class.

When I wrote 'Marley & Me,' I had a clear audience in mind. And it did not include children. I wrote my book for adults and assumed only adults, and possibly teenagers, would be drawn to it.

Cats will outsmart dogs every time.

Never slow down, never look back, live each day with adolescent verve and spunk and curiosity and playfulness. If you think you’re still a young pup, then maybe you are, no matter what the calendar says.

A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated of illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not.

In a world of bosses, you are your own master

Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.

Only then did I see. Something was amiss with Patrick's snap-on one piece, or "onesie" as we manly dads like to call it. His chubby thighs, I now realized, were squeezed into the armholes, which were so tight they must have been cutting off his circulation. The collared neck hung between his legs like an udder. Up top, Patrick's head stuck out through the unsnapped crotch, and his arms were lost somewhere in the billowing pant legs. It was quite a look.

Then I dropped my forehead against his and sat there for a long time, as if I could telegraph a message through our two skulls, from my brain to his. I wanted to make him understand some things. You know all that stuff we’ve always said about you?” I whispered. “What a total pain you are? Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it for a minute, Marley.” He needed to know that, and something more, too. There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went. Marley,” I said. “You are a great dog.

. . . owning a dog always ended with this sadness because dogs just don't live as long as people do.

In a dog's life, some plaster would fall, some cushions would open, some rugs would shred. Like any relationship, this one had its costs. They were costs we came to accept and balance against the joy and amusement and protection and companionship he gave us.

If you still think you're a young pup then you are, no matter what the calendar says

There's no such thing as a bad dog, just a bad owner.

Just so you know Labrodor retrivers do not howl.Begals Howl.Wolves howl. Labs do not howl, at lestnot well. Marley attempted twice to howl, both times in answer to a passing police siren, tossing back his head, forming his mouth into an O shape, and letting loose the most pathetic sound Ihave ever heard, more like gargling than answering the call of the wild. Butnow,no question about it he was howling.

Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all.

In the English language, it all comes down to this: Twenty-six letters, when combined correctly, can create magic. Twenty -six letters form the foundation of a free, informed society.

He taught us the art of unqualified love. How to give it, how to accept it. Where there is that, most other pieces fall into place.

A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.

Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.

A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water logged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?

A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.

It's just the most amazing thing to love a dog, isn't it? It makes our relationships with people seem as boring as a bowl of oatmeal.

Animal lovers are a special breed of humans, generous of spirit, full of empathy, perhaps a little prone to sentimentality, and with hearts as big as a cloudless sky