“You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him.”

“This was, I decided, my purpose as a dog, to comfort the boy whenever he needed me.”

“But humans drive the cars and decide when dogs eat and where dogs live and clearly this was something else in their power - they could find their dogs when they needed them.”

“My purpose, my whole life, had been to love him and be with him, to make him happy. I didn’t want to cause any unhappiness now—in that way, I decided it was probably better than he wasn’t here to see this, though I missed him so much at that moment the ache of it was as bad as the strange pains in my belly.”

“Dog’ is ‘God’ spelled backward; you know that. That’s why you’re here, to help the nuns do God’s work.”

“Dogs have important jobs, like barking when the doorbell rings, but cats have no function in a house whatsoever.”

“And she never gave up, not until the very end. And if she could keep going, I knew I had to. Because it's important. Because failure isn't an option if success is just a matter of more effort. I know it's difficult, Maya. Try harder.”