Quotes from The Genius of Dogs

Brian Hare ·  384 pages

Rating: (1.9K votes)


“Consider Steve Jobs. One biographer said, “Was he smart? No, not exceptionally. Instead he was a genius.” Jobs dropped out of college, went to find himself in India, and at one point was forced out of Apple, the company he co-founded, when sales were slow in 1985. Few would have predicted the level of his success by his death. “Think different” became the slogan of a multinational monolith that fused art and technology under his guidance. Jobs may have been average or unexceptional in many domains, but his vision and ability to think differently made him a genius.”
― Brian Hare, quote from The Genius of Dogs


“It's always a little nerve-wracking when everybody agrees.”
― Brian Hare, quote from The Genius of Dogs


“Openness (artistic, curious, imaginative, with a wide range of interests) Conscientiousness (efficient, organized, responsible, ambitious, able to delay gratification) Extroversion (assertive, energetic, enthusiastic, finds the company of others stimulating) Agreeableness (forgiving, generous, kind, considerate toward others) Neuroticism (anxious, tense, sensitive to criticism, moody)”
― Brian Hare, quote from The Genius of Dogs


“One of the most famous dogs in Chinese history was from the eighth century. The emperor was playing chess with a prince and losing badly. His favorite concubine, legendary for her beauty, was watching discreetly in the distance with her little dog called Wo. Seeing her master losing face, she let Wo run onto the chessboard and knock over all the pieces. The emperor was delighted.”
― Brian Hare, quote from The Genius of Dogs


“Chimpanzees are so skilled at working together to hunt down other chimpanzees that lethal intergroup aggression, or murder, is among the leading causes of mortality in wild chimpanzees.”
― Brian Hare, quote from The Genius of Dogs



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Popular quotes

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,         neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.     9  p For as the heavens are higher than the earth,         so are my ways higher than your ways         and my thoughts than your thoughts.     10[†]  q “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven         and do not return there but water the earth,     making it bring forth and sprout,          r giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,     11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;         it shall not return to me empty,     but  s it shall accomplish that which I purpose,         and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
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“Ask Americans “How similar are you to others?” and on average they will answer “Not very.” Ask the same question in reverse—“How similar are others to you?”—and their judgment of similarity increases noticeably.
The two answers should be exactly the same because the questions are, in essence, identical, but we manage to delude ourselves, just as we all claim to be above average or wholly unsusceptible to social influence. Time and time again, each one of us assumes that he or she stands out. What is it that makes us believe we’re more unique than everyone else?”
― Sheena Iyengar, quote from The Art of Choosing


“Old Spice
 
 
 
 
 
Every Sunday afternoon he dresses in his old army uniform,
tells you the name of every man he killed.
His knuckles are unmarked graves.
 
Visit him on a Tuesday and he will describe
the body of every woman he could not save.
He’ll say she looked like your mother
and you will feel a storm in your stomach.
 
Your grandfather is from another generation–
Russian degrees and a school yard Cuban national anthem,
communism and religion. Only music makes him cry now.
 
He married his first love, her with the long curls down
to the small of her back. Sometimes he would
pull her to him, those curls wrapped around his hand
like rope.
 
He lives alone now. Frail, a living memory
reclining in a seat, the room orbiting around him.
You visit him but never have anything to say.
When he was your age he was a man.
You retreat into yourself whenever he says your name.
 
Your mother’s father,
“the almost martyr,
can load a gun under water
in under four seconds.
 
Even his wedding night was a battlefield.
A Swiss knife, his young bride,
his sobs as he held Italian linen between her legs.
 
His face is a photograph left out in the sun,
the henna of his beard, the silver of his eyebrows
the wilted handkerchief, the kufi and the cane.
 
Your grandfather is dying.
He begs you Take me home yaqay,
I just want to see it one last time;
you don’t know how to tell him that it won’t be
anything like the way he left it.”
― Warsan Shire, quote from Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth


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