Where the Red Fern Grows Quotes

Quote 1: "It's strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought forth fresh and new, just by something you've seen, or something you've heard, or the sight of an old familiar face." Chapter 1, pg. 3

Quote 2: "Lying back in the soft hay, I folded my hands behind my head, closed my eyes, and let my mind wander back over the two long years. I thought of the fishermen, the blackberry patches, and the huckleberry hills. I thought of the prayer I had said when I asked God to help me get two hound pups. I knew He had surely helped, for He had given me the heart, courage, and determination." Chapter 3, pg. 21

Quote 3: "I wanted so much to step over and pick them up. Several times I tried to move my feet, but they seemed to be nailed to the floor. I knew the pups were mine, all mine, yet I couldn't move. My heart started aching like a drunk grasshopper. I tried to swallow and couldn't. My Adam's apple wouldn't work. One pup started my way. I held my breath. On he came until I felt a scratchy little foot on mine. The other pup followed. A warm puppy tongue caressed my sore foot. I heard the stationmaster say, 'They already know you.' I knelt down and gathered them in my arms. I buried my face between their wiggling bodies and cried." Chapter 5, pg. 37

Quote 4: "I had a time with this part of their training, but my persistence had no bounds." Chapter 7, pg. 67

Quote 5: "Although they couldn't talk in my terms, they had a language of their own that was easy to understand. Sometimes I would see the answer in their eyes, and again it would be in the friendly wagging of their tails. Other times I could hear the answer in a low whine or feel it in the soft caress of a warm flicking tongue. In some way, they would always answer." Chapter 7, pg. 68

Quote 6: "'I thought about that, Papa,' I said, 'but I made a bargain with my dogs. I told them that if they would put one in a tree, I'd do the rest. Well, they fulfilled their part of the bargain. Now it's up to me to do my part, and I'm going to, Papa. I'm going to cut it down. I don't care if it takes me a year.'" Chapter 8, pg. 80

Quote 7: "I always took their kidding with a smile on my face, but it made my blood boil like the water in Mama's teakettle." Chapter 10, pg. 102

Quote 8: "I opened my mouth to call Old Dan. I wanted to tell him to come on and we'd go home as there was nothing we could do. The words just wouldn't come out. I couldn't utter a sound." Chapter 11, pg. 117

Quote 9: "I told them I wasn't giving up until my dogs did." Chapter 12, pg. 133

Quote 10: "As I sat there on the limb, looking at the old fellow, he cried again. Something came over me. I didn't want to kill him. I hollered down and told Rubin I didn't want to kill the ghost coon. He hollered back, 'Are you crazy?' I told him I wasn't crazy. I just didn't want to kill him. I climbed down. Rubin was mad. He said, 'What's the matter with you?' 'Nothing,' I told him. 'I just don't have the heart to kill the coon.'" Chapter 13, pg. 141-2

Quote 11: "As I skipped along, it was hard for me to realize all the wonderful things that had happened to me in such a few short years. I had two of the finest little hounds that ever bawled on the trail of a ringtail coon. I had a wonderful mother and father and three little sisters. I had the best grandpa a boy ever had, and to top it all, I was going on a championship coon hunt. It was no wonder that my heart was bursting with happiness. Wasn't I the luckiest boy in the world?" Chapter 14, pg. 160-1

Quote 12: "As graceful as any queen, with her head high in the air, and her long red tail arched in a perfect rainbow, my little dog walked down the table. With her warm gray eyes staring straight at me, on she came. Walking up to me, she laid her head on my shoulder. As I put my arms around her, the crowd exploded." Chapter 15, pg. 178

Quote 13: "Regardless of all the discouraging talk, the love and belief I had in my little red hounds never faltered. I could see them now and then, leaping over old logs, tearing through the underbrush, sniffing and searching for the lost trail. My heart swelled with pride. I whooped, urging them on." Chapter 16, pg. 188

Quote 14: "'I've been out in storms like this before, all by myself. I've never left my dogs in the woods, and I'm not going to now, even if I have to look for them myself.'" Chapter 17, pg. 199

Quote 15: "'Men,' said Mr. Kyle, 'people have been trying to understand dogs ever since the beginning of time. One never knows what they'll do. You can read every day where a dog saved the life of a drowning child, or lay down his life for his master. Some people call this loyalty. I don't. I may be wrong, but I call it love - the deepest kind of love.'" Chapter 18, pg. 214

Quote 16: "I knelt down and put my arms around them. I knew that if it hadn't been for their loyalty and unselfish courage I would have probably been killed by the slashing claws of the devil cat. 'I don't know how I'll ever pay you back for what you've done,' I said, 'but I'll never forget it.'" Chapter 19, pg. 230

Quote 17: "I'm sure the red fern has grown and has completely covered the two little mounds. I know it is still there, hiding its secret beneath those long, red leaves, but it wouldn't be hidden from me for part of my life is buried there too. Yes, I know it is still there, for in my heart I believe the legend of the sacred red fern." Chapter 20, pg. 249