So long, Charley.”24 He had coined a phrase that jockeys…

The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come…

— Laura Hillenbrand

“The racehorse, by virtue of his awesome physical gifts, freed the jockey from himself. When a horse and a jockey flew over the track…

— Laura Hillenbrand

“It was not a great presence but a great absence, a geometric ocean of darkness that seemed to swallow heaven itself.”

— Laura Hillenbrand

“In September 1942, a B-17 crashed in the Pacific, stranding nine men on a raft. Within a few days, one had died and the…

— Laura Hillenbrand

“What God asks of men, said Graham, is faith. His invisibility is the truest test of that faith. To know who sees him, God…

— Laura Hillenbrand

Louie and Seabiscuit were both Californians and both on the sports pages in the 1930s. I was fascinated. When I learned about his World…

— Laura Hillenbrand

“Though the captives' resistance was dangerous, through such acts, dignity was preserved, and through dignity, life itself.”

— Laura Hillenbrand

“Each of his workouts was attended by ten thousand or more spectators.”

— Laura Hillenbrand

“We figure he is the people’s horse, and we propose to train him in the open.”

— Laura Hillenbrand

“Wonderful?" wrote J.O. Young in his diary. "To stand cheering, crying, waving your hat and acting like a damn fool in general. No one…

— Laura Hillenbrand

“Stories of cannibalism among castaways were so common that British sailors considered the practice of choosing and sacrificing a victim to be an established…

— Laura Hillenbrand

I have vertigo. Vertigo makes it feel like the floor is pitching up and down. Things seem to be spinning. It's like standing on…

— Laura Hillenbrand

“But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This…

— Laura Hillenbrand

My illness is excruciating and difficult to cope with. It takes over your entire life and causes more suffering than I can describe.

— Laura Hillenbrand

“I can't describe the feeling he gave me," Howard said later, "but somehow I knew he had what it takes. Tom and I realized…

— Laura Hillenbrand