“Everybody was asleep. Everybody except me, James Herriot, creeping sore and exhausted towards another spell of hard labour. Why the hell had I ever decided to become a country vet? I must have been crazy to pick a job where… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
That quotation about not having time to stand and stare has never applied to me. I seem to have spent a good part of… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
“I went back to my conversation with Siegfried that morning; we had just about decided that the man with a lot of animals couldn't be expected to feel affection for individuals among them. But those buildings back there were full of John Skipton's animals - he must have hundreds. Yet what made him trail down that hillside every day in… — James Herriot Copy Share
If a farmer calls me to a sick animal, he couldn't care less if I were George Bernard Shaw. — James Herriot Copy Share Image
“... a bullock, backing in alarm from the halter, crashed its craggy behind into my midriff. The wind shot out of me in a sharp hiccup, then the animal decided to turn round in the narrow passage, squashing me like a fly against the railings. I was pop-eyed as it scrambled round; I wondered whether the creaking was coming from… — James Herriot Copy Share
“You know, Mrs Pumphrey, you're overfeeding him again. Didn't I tell you to cut out all those pieces of cake and give him more… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
“But Siegfried held up a restraining hand. “Just one moment,” he slurred. “The windscreen is very dirty. I’ll give it a rub for you.” The ladies watched him silently as he weaved round to the back of the car and began to rummage in the boot. The love light had died from their eyes. I don’t know why he took… — James Herriot Copy Share
“This old man had once told me that he left school when he was twelve, whereas I had spent most of the twenty-four years… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
And the peace which I always found in the silence and emptiness of the moors filled me utterly — James Herriot Copy Share Image
A farmer once told me one of the greatest luxuries of his life was to wake up early only to go back to sleep… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.… — James Herriot Copy Share Image
