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Quote by William Nack

“Secretariat has just tied the world record for nine furlongs. He is running now as if in contempt of the clock. Those watching him begin to comprehend the magnitude of the effort. He is moving beyond the standard by which the running horse has been traditionally judged, not tiring, not leg weary, not backing up a stroke, dimensionless in scope, and all the time Turcotte asking nothing of him.”

Quote by William Nack

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William Nack

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“[Charles] Hatton had no way of knowing it then as he sat on the bench, but there was a young racehorse turning the corner of the racetrack--perhaps 150 yards away--who would fulfill some ideal that he had been turning over in his head since Billy Walker put it there more than fifty years ago. Secretariat walked down the pathway toward the paddock, toward the towering canopy of trees above the saddling area, toward Hatton, who saw the colt and came to his feet. The red horse filled Hatton's eyes of an instant, not striding into his field of vision but swimming into it, pulling Hatton from the bench to a standstill before him. Hatton had seen thousands of horses in his life, thousands of two-year-olds, and suddenly on this July afternoon of 1972 he found the 106-carat diamond: "It was like seeing a bunch of gravel and there was the Kohinoor lying in there. It was so unexpected. I thought, 'Jesus Christ, I never saw a horse that looked like that before.”

SportsHorse RacingTriple Crown
Book:Secretariat: The Making of a Champion
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“Non c'è nulla della realtà che sia banale e fine a se stesso. Non siamo tornati nella nostra città per nostalgia; non erano suggerite da nostalgia le nostre ricerche, non erano inutili i piccoli episodi, le modeste immagini, i colori, le voci, i volti; t'assicuro Stefano, che ci son più legami tra le cose, sia pur quelle banali, domestiche e di tutti i giorni e quelle che riguardano il cielo e la terra, di quanti non ce ne siano tra il grano e il pane.”

Letteratura ItalianaPremio Strega
Book:La morte del fiume
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“First there were the indoor animals. Leeda took all five dogs out on their leashes, letting herself be dragged along as they sniffed at this rock, trotted to that tree, and wrestled with one another exuberantly. She smiled, watching them. They were like clowns. Constantly ridiculous. Once she managed to drag them back inside and foist each dog into its pen, she filled all the food and water bowls. She cleaned the parrot cage and managed not to feel like gagging. She rubbed the parrot on the back of his head, which she'd discovered was his favorite spot. She thought about Birdie catching impetigo from her chicken. She could see now how one might not be totally disgusted to kiss a bird. The parrot looked at her with such human curiosity. Birdie had named him Chiquito and had nuzzled her nose to his. Now Leeda tried it, half afraid she'd lose her nose. But Chiquito nestled into her and made a low sound of contentment in the back of his throat.”

ComfortAnimal Attraction
Book:Love and Peaches
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“A hoarse scream came from somewhere in front of them, and Billy stopped. Lee froze. The scream came again and again, the short repetition of it mad and desperate. She whispered as softly as she could. "Billy, is someone hurt?" But he didn't respond or turn around. She cautiously joined him and Kimmie at the front, and she saw a bobcat in Billy's lamp light, staring them down as a humanlike wail came from the cat's mouth. Billy moved slowly toward the animal with his arm outstretched as Lee pleaded for him to come back. When he reached it and offered his hand up to smell, the animal froze with its teeth bared. Lee imagined it mauling him and then moving on to her. But then the animal rubbed its cheek against his palm like a housecoat, and Lee heard a low rumbling. The creature was purring. He gave it love for a few minutes until the cat got tired of it and loped out of sight. He let out a breath and chuckled low to himself. "She was just lonely.”

Animal AttractionSpecial AbilityZoo Linguist
Book:Strange Folk
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“When company comes, you must walk the fine line between obvious rudeness and actually making the intruders feel welcome. Sniff the guests' feet, but don't rub up against them. Jump on their laps, but don't stay to be petted. Stick around long enough to hear them say how beautiful you are, but not long enough to let on that you care what they think. The only exception to these rules is when the visitor is a confirmed cat-hater. That's when you need to pull out all the stops—purr, rub, cling and cuddle, until the offending human sneezes and departs abruptly.”

AnthropomorphismCat BehaviorCat HaterFeline S Perspective
Book:Cat Talk A Lighthearted Look at Living with Cats
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