Quotes from Garth Stein

Can we not will ourselves to achieve the impossible? Can we not use the power of our life force to change something: one small thing, on insignificant moment, one breath, one gesture? Is there nothing we can do to change what is around us?

In racing, they say 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.

spiritualism and science are one? That bodies evolve and souls evolve and the universe is a fluid place that marries them both in a wonderful package called a human being. What's wrong with that idea?

So how does a person believe?" I asked. "By seeing the beauty in everything. By seeing the potential in every moment. God created all things, Trevor. God loves all things. When you love all things as well, you will find your happiness.

simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.

Growing old is a pathetic thing. it is full of limitations and reduction. It happens to us all, I know; but I think that it might not have to. I think it happens to those of us who request it. And in our current mind-set, our collective ennui, it is what we have chosen to do.

We are all connected. The living to the non-living, as the non-living to the living. All things in all directions in all times. It is only in the physical dimension that we have limitations. (The membrane between us is thinner than you think.)

It's not the quality of the man, it's the quality of the team.

The sun rises every day, what is to love? Lock the sun in a box. Force the sun to overcome adversity in order to rise. Then we will cheer!

Hands are the windows to a man's soul.

Yes," the man said, sizing up Denny. "I mean your daughter, Zoë. This is Washington State, for Christ's sake! Unless you're cooking meth in your kitchen, the child is always awarded to the biological parent. No question.

head to acknowledge the occasional petting

But what I've always liked best is when he talks about having no memory. No memory of things he'd done just a second before. Good or bad. Because memory is time folding back on itself. To remember is to disengage from the present.

To which you manifest is before you.

Faster, the wind presses against my face as I run, faster, I feel my heart beating wildly and I bark twice to tell him, to tell everyone in the world, to say faster! I bark twice so he knows, so he remembers. What I want now is what I've always wanted. One more lap, Denny! One more lap! Faster!

No race has ever been won in the first corner; many have been lost there.

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

That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me. Is it true?

pulling from the front. In that case, the smart move is to yield his lead to the trailing car and let the other driver pass. Relieved of his burden, our driver can tuck in behind and make the new leader drive his mirrors. Sometimes, however, it is important to hold one's position and not allow the pass. For strategic reasons, psychological

Success at any endeavor on an elite level demands selfishness...Many of us have convinced ourselves that compromise is necessary to achieve our goals, that all of our goals are not attainable so we should eliminate the extraneous, proritize our desires, and accept less than the moon. But Denny refused to yield to that idea. He wanted his daughter and he wanted his racing career and he refused to give up one for the other.

just taught me. Such a simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.

a true champion can accomplish things that a normal person would think impossible.

Could Denny have possibly appreciated the subjective nature of loneliness, which something nature of loneliness, which is something exist only in the mind, not in the world, and, like a virus, is unable to survive without a willing host.

Do not mistake confidence and self-awareness for egotism. I