Garth Stein Quotes

Somewhere, the zebra is dancing.

Very gently. Like there are eggshells on your pedals, and you don’t want to break them. That’s how you drive in the rain.

The human language, as precise as it is with its thousands of words, can still be so wonderfully vague.

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.

You should shine with all of your light all the time.

That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me.

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

This is a rule of racing: No race has ever been won in the first corner; many have been lost there.

He died that day because his body had served its purpose. His soul had done what it came to do, learned what it came to learn, and then was free to leave.

Racing is about discipline and intelligence, not about who has the heavier foot. The one who drives smart will always win in the end.

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.

To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live.

We are the creators of our own destiny.

In documentary films, you're a storyteller using found objects. You still have to have a story arc and all the elements that make a good story. It really helped me mature as a storyteller.

I hear hundreds of years of life. I hear wind and rain and fire and beetles. I hear the seasons changing and birds and squirrels. I hear the life of the trees this wood came from.

People, like dogs, love repetition. Chasing a ball, lapping a course in a race car, sliding down a slide. Because as much as each incident is similar, so it is different.

The car goes where the eyes go.

We are all afforded our physical existence so we can learn about ourselves.

That which we manifest is before us.

It makes one realize that the physicality if our world is a boundary to us only if our will is weak; a true champion can accomplish things that a normal person would think impossible.

People speak of a will to live. They rarely speak of a will to die. Because people are afraid of death. Death is dark and unknown and frightening. But not for me. It is not the end.

[T]he race is long - to finish first, first you must finish.

The first time I saw you,' he says, 'I knew we belonged together.

But what is worse, smelling the roast and not feasting, or not smelling the roast at all?

The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles - preferably of his own making - in order to triumph.

I’ll give you a theory: Man’s closest relative is not the chimpanzee, as the TV people believe, but is, in fact, the dog.

People and their rituals. They cling to things so hard sometimes.

Because memory is time folding back on itself. To remember is to disengage from the present. In order to reach any kind of success in automobile racing, a driver must never remember.

Any problems that may occur have ultimately been caused by you, because you are responsible for where you are and what you are doing there.

The visible becomes inevitable.

[M]emory is time folding back on itself. To remember is to disengage from the present.

The full moon rises. The fog clings to the lowest branches of the spruce trees. The man steps out of the darkest corner of the forest and finds himself transformed into... A monkey? I think not.

We had a good run, and now it’s over; what’s wrong with that?

And I wonder: Have I squandered my dogness? Have I forsaken my nature for my desires? Have I made a mistake by anticipating my future and shunning my present?

Your car goes where your eyes go. Lonliness is unable to survive without a willing host.

Yet for every peak there is a valley.

Using a dog as a narrator has limitations and it has advantages. The limitations are that a dog cannot speak. A dog has no thumbs. A dog can't communicate his thoughts except with gestures.

I gotta be honest with you...I hate numbers. I hate chapter numbers. I hate them.

If I went to someone for therapy, I wouldn't be a writer...I would just be well adjusted.

I know in this time of great technological advancement, the idea of reading a book seems almost anachronistic, but I think it's worth preserving.

That which you manifest is before you.

So much of language is unspoken. So much of language is compromised of looks and gestures and sounds that are not words. People are ignorant of the vast complexity of their own communication.

Those monkey-thumbs were meant for dogs. Give me my thumbs, you fu**ing monkeys!

The race is long. It is better to drive within oneself and finish the race behind the other than it is to drive too hard and crash.

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.

Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature.

What I want now is what I've always wanted.

That which you manifest is before you. The visible becomes inevitable. Your car goes where your eyes go.

It’s so hard to communicate because there are so many moving parts. There’s presentation and there’s interpretation and they’re so dependent on each other it makes things very difficult.

Sometimes I believe...Sometimes I really do believe.