This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Laura Hillenbrand More Quotes by Laura Hillenbrand More Quotes From Laura Hillenbrand It's easy to talk to a horse if you understand his language. Horses stay the same from the day they are born until the day they die. They are only changed by the way people treat them. Laura Hillenbrand horse people way Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live. Laura Hillenbrand unbroken identity men The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer. Laura Hillenbrand pain life believe His books were the closest thing he had to furniture and he lived in them the way other men live in easy chairs. Laura Hillenbrand men book way I just thought I was empty and now I'm being filled...and I just wanted to keep being filled. Laura Hillenbrand empty filled wanted His conviction that everything happened for a reason, and would come to good, gave him laughing equanimity even in hard times. Laura Hillenbrand unbroken hard-times laughing ... character reigns preeminent in determining potential. Laura Hillenbrand reign character Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. Laura Hillenbrand oxygen men past He had no money and no home; he lived entirely on the road of the racing circuit, sleeping in empty stalls, carrying with him only a saddle, his rosary, and his books...The books were the closest thing he had to furniture, and he lived in them the way other men live in easy chairs. Laura Hillenbrand home sleep book My agent and I put out my proposal one Thursday afternoon in August, 1998. Publishers started bidding immediately, and that process progressed for a few days. Laura Hillenbrand bidding afternoon august I'm attracted to subjects who overcome tremendous suffering and learn to cope emotionally with it Laura Hillenbrand subjects suffering overcoming In 1938... the year's #1 newsmaker was not FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. Nor was it Lou Gehrig or Clark Gable. The subject of the most newspaper column inches in 1938 wasn't even a person. It was an undersized, crooked-legged racehorse named Seabiscuit. Laura Hillenbrand inches newspapers years Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb. Laura Hillenbrand hydrogen-bomb atomic-bomb bombs I am in an altogether new world now. I can think of nothing more wonderful. It is a real touch of all that heaven means. Laura Hillenbrand real mean thinking Every day after lunch when I was writing my first book, I'd nibble a square of fine chocolate and meditate on all that had gone into its creation: the sun and rain that spilled on the cocoa plant, the soil that nourished it, the hands that picked the beans, and so on. My taste of chocolate became a lesson on the interconnectedness of things, and the infinite blessings for which I am grateful. Laura Hillenbrand grateful rain book When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him. Laura Hillenbrand divine-love unbroken divine Such beauty, he thought, was too perfect to have come about by mere chance. That day in the center of the Pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil. Joyful and grateful in the midst of slow dying, the two men bathed in that day until sunset brought is, and their time in the doldrums, to an end. Laura Hillenbrand sunset grateful men My illness is excruciating and difficult to cope with. It takes over your entire life and causes more suffering than I can describe. Laura Hillenbrand illness causes suffering And at that point, I think my experience in covering the subject helped me. I think editors felt comfortable with the idea of me telling this story because I had demonstrated that I know this business pretty well Laura Hillenbrand editors ideas thinking Without dignity, identity is erased. Laura Hillenbrand dignity identity
