Laura Hillenbrand Quotes
Quotes about:
Books Dignity Hardship Horses Pain Suffering War Writing
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.
Horse, People, Way
Laura Hillenbrand (2002). "Seabiscuit: The True Story of Three Men and a Racehorse", HarperCollins UK
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.
Men, Identity, Unbroken
Laura Hillenbrand (2010). "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption", p.183, Random House
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.
Life, Pain, Believe
... character reigns preeminent in determining potential.
Character, Reign
Laura Hillenbrand (2003). "Seabiscuit: An American Legend", p.408, Ballantine Books
His books were the closest thing he had to furniture and he lived in them the way other men live in easy chairs.
Book, Men, Way
Laura Hillenbrand (2003). "Seabiscuit: An American Legend", p.49, Ballantine Books
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.
Unbroken, Divine, Divine Love
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.
Lying, Heart, Self Worth
I just thought I was empty and now I'm being filled...and I just wanted to keep being filled.
Empty, Filled, Wanted
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.
Men, Past, Oxygen
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.
Real, Mean, Thinking
His conviction that everything happened for a reason, and would come to good, gave him laughing equanimity even in hard times.
Hard Times, Laughing, Unbroken
Without dignity, identity is erased.
Identity, Dignity
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.
Years, Newspapers, Inches
"Seabiscuit: An American Legend". Book by Laura Hillenbrand, 2001.
Though all three men faced the same hardship, their differing perceptions of it appeared to be shaping their fates. Louie and Phil's hope displaced their fear and inspired them to work toward their survival, and each success renewed their physical and emotional vigor. Mac's resignation seemed to paralyze him and the less he participated in their efforts to survive, the more he slipped. Though he did the least, as the days passed, it was he who faded the most. Louie and Phil's optimism, and Mac's hopelessness, were becoming self-fulfilling.
Fate, Men, Emotional
...maybe it was better to break a man's leg than to break his heart.
Heart, Men, Legs
I'm attracted to subjects who overcome tremendous suffering and learn to cope emotionally with it
Suffering, Overcoming, Subjects
Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen.
Oxygen, Water, Essentials
Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb.
Hydrogen Bomb, Bombs, Atomic Bomb
But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story
Tasks, Stories, Research
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.
Rain, Book, Grateful
I am actually in poor health due to chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, and my ability to work is greatly diminished right now, so I have to get better before I can start another big project
Dysfunction, Get Better, Poor
I think if I had been writing fiction, where the work is entirely dependent on the writer's creativity and the potential directions the narrative might take are infinite, I might have frozen
Writing, Creativity, Thinking
We just sat there and watched the plane pass the island, and it never came back," he said. "I could see it on the radar. It makes you feel terrible. Life was cheap in war.
War, Islands, Said
Laura Hillenbrand (2010). "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption", p.83, Random House
I have to detach myself completely from aspirations. I hardly ever listen to music anymore because it arouses all of this yearning in me
Aspiration, Listening To Music, Yearning
A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. Louie thought: Let go.
Letting Go, Pain, Unbroken
Laura Hillenbrand (2014). "Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive", p.49, Delacorte Press
Richard LaGravenese
Louis Zamperini Motivational speaker
Jack O'Connell Actor
Domhnall Gleeson Actor
Richard LaGravenese Screenwriter
Walter Isaacson Writer
Gary Ross Film director
Anthony Doerr Author of novels
Erik Larson Journalist
Gary Sinise Actor
Finn Wittrock Actor
Angelina Jolie Actress
Sara Gruen Author
George Woolf Jockey
Barbara Kingsolver Novelist
Daniel James Brown Author
Miyavi Singer-songwriter
Cheryl Strayed Novelist
William Nicholson Screenwriter
Rebecca Skloot Freelance writer
Martin Dugard Author
Born: May 15, 1967
Occupation: Author
Hardship