W. Bruce Cameron: The first cellphone I owned was hardly a slim, high-...

You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him.

W. Bruce Cameron

puppy dog men

My purpose, my whole life, had been to love him and be with him, to make him happy. I didn’t want to cause any unhappiness now—in that way, I decided it was probably better than he wasn’t here to see this, though I missed him so much at that moment the ache of it was as bad as the strange pains in my belly.

W. Bruce Cameron

pain purpose dog

That's the lesson of the dogs, that it's important to both live in the moment and then go on to the next wonderful thing.

W. Bruce Cameron

important dog live-in-the-moment

Because failure isn't an option if success is just a matter of more effort.

W. Bruce Cameron

effort ifs matter

I'd hope that the story A Dog's Purpose helps everyone reflect on how many different "lives" we all live - from children to teenager to adults to seniors - and how each phase of life presents new situations along the way to discovering our ultimate purpose.

W. Bruce Cameron

senior teenager children

Dogs have important jobs, like barking when the doorbell rings, but cats have no function in a house whatsoever.

W. Bruce Cameron

cat dog jobs

I think one of the wonderful messages of A Dog's Purpose is how difficult it is for humans to master love without making it a muddy mess. God invented love and it is therefore perfect, and dogs are better at celebrating this perfection than we are. When in doubt as to how we should feel, we could do far worse than trying to live life like the dogs.

W. Bruce Cameron

live-life dog thinking

As for me: I loyally remained right where I was, remembering the very first I had ever seen the boy and then just now, the very last time-and all the times in between. The deep aching grief I knew I would feel would come soon enough, but at that moment mostly what I felt was peace, secure in the knowledge that by living my life the way I had, everything had come down to this moment. I had fulfilled my purpose.

W. Bruce Cameron

soon-enough grief boys

Dog’ is ‘God’ spelled backward; you know that. That’s why you’re here, to help the nuns do God’s work.

W. Bruce Cameron

nun dog helping

Some people just don’t appreciate having a dog around. It’s sad to think there are people like that. I knew Gloria was that way—maybe that’s why she could never be truly happy.

W. Bruce Cameron

dog people thinking

Apparently there are three levels of brain activity. Level 1 is the lowest level - the amount of concentration required to, say, delete emails or serve in congress.

W. Bruce Cameron

brain funny science

Most of what happens in the world is far beyond a dog's comprehension, so they must turn to their faith in us to help them navigate life's treacheries. Don't we, also, have unanswerable questions about the vagaries of modern existence for which the answer is beyond human grasp, so that only our faith can guide us?

W. Bruce Cameron

modern helping world

I want to know what good is a web search engine that returns 324,909,188 'matches' to my key word. That's like saying, "Good news, we've located the product you're looking for. It's on Earth.

W. Bruce Cameron

news keys earth

Kansas is a piece of real estate that completely disproves the theory of roundness as a quality of the planet earth.

W. Bruce Cameron

real funny travel

I wouldn't say that I have overcome opposition so much as I have tried to understand it. The lash of judgment carries a wounding sting, and there's a deeply instinctual tendency to want to respond in kind. I am not proud that my thoughts were blackened with vile opinions about the nature of those who were attacking me.

W. Bruce Cameron

opinion proud overcoming

When you adopt a dog, you have a lot of very good days and one very bad day.

W. Bruce Cameron

day good you dog

When we adopt a dog or any pet, we know it is going to end with us having to say goodbye, but we still do it. And we do it for a very good reason: They bring so much joy and optimism and happiness. They attack every moment of every day with that attitude.

W. Bruce Cameron

day good attitude happiness

I've read that the ancient Chinese art of feng shui can bring a sense of peace, well-being, and positive energy to a home - same as beer.

W. Bruce Cameron

home positive peace art

You'd think skiing wouldn't be strenuous - all you have to do, after all, is start at the top and let gravity pull you to the dessert bar in the lodge. But at those elevations, you'll find about as much oxygen as you'll find kindness from your children. It's like spending six hours holding your breath.

W. Bruce Cameron

think you kindness children

3D printers give us what we've all been craving: another reason to talk to technical support. When you finally get the thing working, though, you'll be able to print out your grocery list as a cube! When you look up directions online, you can print the map out on a globe!

W. Bruce Cameron

your look you support

The first cellphone I owned was hardly a slim, high-tech device - it was more like a brick with buttons, only with worse reception. If you wanted to use your phone to give someone a message, you were better off throwing it at him and hoping you broke his car window.