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Jon Katz

Jon Katz Quotes

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Famous Jon Katz Quotes

“I am no theologian, and do not have the answers to these questions, and one of the reasons I enjoy the animals on the farm so much is that they don't think about their pain, or question it, they accept it and endure it, true stoics. I have never heard a donkey or cow whine (although I guess dogs do). I told my friend this: pain, like joy, is a gift. It challenges us, tests, defines us, causes us to grow, empathize, and also, to appreciate its absence. If nothing else, it sharpens the experience of joy. The minute something happens to me that causes pain, I start wondering how I can respond to it, what I can learn from it, what it has taught me or shown me about myself. This doesn't make it hurt any less, but it puts it, for me, on a more manageable level. I don't know if there is a God, or if he causes me or anybody else to hurt, or if he could stop pain. I try to accept it and live beyond it. I think the animals have taught me that. The Problem of Pain is that it exists, and is ubiquitous. The Challenge of Pain is how we respond to it.”

ProblemPainAnimalsFarm
Author:Jon Katz
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“If you have a border collie, and do your job, you will learn patience. if you have Labs, you will learn to stretch the boundaries of hygiene. I'm told that the original Labs hailed not from Labrador but from Newfoundland, where they worked with tough and tired fisherman who let them hang around but didn't provide organic or vegan dog food. As a result, Labs became scavengers, with little fussiness about what they ate.”

DogsBorder CollieLabrador Retriever
Book:Dog Days: Dispatches from Bedlam Farm
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“Whenever I hear people clucking about the decline of civilization, what's wrong with young people, how vulgar popular culture is, how confusing and frightening they find the internet, alarms go off. I know I'm around somebody whose hinges are rusting. Death will be bad enough, but for me, this early harbinger is more fearsome, because a part of one's spirit and openness and ability to learn and grow disappears.”

CultureAgingOpen MindednessIntellectual Curiosity
Book:A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me
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“It is difficult to see ourselves as we are. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have good friends, lovers or others who will do us the good service of telling us the truth about ourselves. When we don't, we can so easily delude ourselves, lose a sense of truth about ourselves, and our conscience loses power and purpose. Mostly, we tell ourselves what we would like to hear. We lose our way.”

WaySometimesEnoughPurposeDifficultLosesLoversConscienceFortunateGood FriendGood Service
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“I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.”

IfsThinkingLoveTogetherFightingStuffFriendshipWalksPowerfulTiredBusyConnectedGrantedI've LearnedGood FriendReal FriendsMy Best FriendTrue FriendDistractedTrue FriendshipToo BusyBest FriendMy FriendshipGlueYour Best FriendAbout FriendshipBest FriendshipInspirational FriendshipTrue Best FriendBeautiful FriendshipFriends For LifeFriendship And LifeLoyal FriendFaithful FriendsTake Nothing For GrantedIntimate FriendsSpecial FriendTrue Friendship And LifeHeart Touching FriendsPowerful Friends
Author:Jon Katz
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“The immature conscience is not its own master. It simply parrots the decisions of others. It does not make judgments of its own; it merely conforms to the judgments of others. That is not real freedom, and it makes true love impossible, for if we are to love truly and freely, we must be able to give something that is truly our own to another. If our heart does not belong to us, asks Merton, how can we give it to another?”

IfsGivingHeartDoeRealAbleAsksDecisionImpossibleMastersJudgmentConscienceConformImmatureParrotsReal FreedomJudgment Of Others
Author:Jon Katz
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“Americans have an extraordinary love-hate relationship with the rich culture they've created. They buy, watch and read it even as they ban, block and condemn it.”

AmericaHateCultureWatchesRichInternetExtraordinaryBlockFree SpeechBansLove HateLove Hate RelationshipExtraordinary Love
Book:Virtuous Reality: How America Surrendered Discussion of Moral Values to Opportunists, Nitwits, and Blockheads Like William Bennett
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“Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Politics are ugly, religion is struggling, technology is stressful, and the economy is unfortunate. What's one thing that we have in our lives that we can depend on? A dog or a cat loving us unconditionally , every day, very faithfully.”

MeanCultureAnimalTechnologyStruggleEconomyOur LivesOne ThingDogDependsCatUglyUnfortunateStressfulDisconnectedFragmentedStressful Day
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