Sheepdog Quotes

Most people are like sheep. Nice, harmless creatures who want nothing more than to be left alone so they can graze. But then of course there are wolves. Who want nothing more than to eat the sheep.

But there's a third kind of person. The sheepdog. Sheepdogs have fangs like wolves. But their instinct isn't predation. It's protection. All they want, what they live for, is to protect the flock. ~ Barry Eisler

What happens when a sheepdog gets bit by a wolf?"
"Duh. It becomes a wolf."
"No. It becomes a sheepdog that fights with the lawlessness and savagery of a wolf. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I dare say a good many ... would have kept quiet and thought about keeping on the right side of the Chief, but I'm afraid I'm not much good at that. ~ Richard Adams

Do you remember Vlek, who was such a good sheepdog that she and Jakob alone could drive a whole flock past you at the counting-post? Do you remember how Vlek grew old and sickly and could not hold down her food, and how there was no one to shoot her but you, and how you went for a walk afterwards because you did not want anyone to see you cry? ~ J.M. Coetzee

Novels do take charge of the writer, and the writer is basically a kind of sheepdog just trying to keep things on track. ~ John Gregory Dunne

There is no more off-leash reliable, calm, sophisticated, go-with-you-anywhere dog than a trained sheepdog. ~ Donald McCaig

A ScrumMaster's role on the team is compared to a sheepdog. They guide the team toward the goal by enforcing boundaries, chasing off predators, and giving the occasional bark. ~ Clinton Keith

Your responsibility to be ready for the fight, never ends. ~ James Yeager

You can't let him get away with this!" Penny shrieked.
Caine wasn't having it. "You stupid witch," he yelled back. "No one told you to let it go that far!"
"He was mine for the day," Penny hissed. She pressed a rag to her nose, which had started bleeding again.
"He tore his own eyes out. What did you think Quinn would do? What do you think Albert will do now?" He bit savagely at his thumb, a nervous habit.
"I thought you were the king!"
Caine reacted without thinking. He swung a hard backhand at her face. The blow did not connect, but the thought did. Penny flew backward like she'd been hit by a bus. She smacked hard against the wall of the office.
The blow stunned her, and Caine was in her face before she could clear her thoughts.
Turk came bursting in, his gun leveled. "What's happening?"
"Penny tripped," Caine said.
Penny's freckled face was white with fury.
"Don't," Caine warned. He tightened an invisible grip around her head and twisted it back at an impossible angle.
Then Caine released her.
Penny panted and glared. But no nightmare seized Caine's mind. "You'd better hope Lana can fix that boy, Penny."
"You're getting soft." Penny choked out the words.
"Being king isn't about being a sick creep," Caine said. "People need someone in charge. People are sheep and they need a big sheepdog telling them what to do and where to go. But it doesn't work if you start killing the sheep."
"You're scared of ~ Michael Grant

Unlike the millionaire next door, the soldier next door is uncelebrated by commerce and culture. He is the sheepdog, the ranger, the sentry who walks our walls. She is the corpsman, the driver, the mate who patrols our harbors. It was my brief privilege to stand with - not the prettiest people, nor the best educated or most flossily advantaged - but the very best people my country could offer up. ~ Jack Lewis

So what happened to the comma in this process? Well, between the 16th century and the present day, it became a kind of scary grammatical sheepdog. As we shall shortly see, the comma has so many jobs as a 'separator' (punctuation marks are traditionally either 'separators' or 'terminators') that it tears about on the hillside of language, endlessly organising words into sensible groups and making them stay put: sorting and dividing; circling and herding; and of course darting off with a peremptory 'woof' to round up any wayward subordinate clause that makes a futile bolt for semantic freedom. Commas, if you don't whistle at them to calm down, are unstoppably enthusiastic at this job. Luckily the trend in the 20th century (starting with H. W. Fowler's The King's English in 1906) has been towards ever-simpler punctuation, with fewer and fewer commas; but take any passage from a non-contemporary writer and you can't help seeing the constituent words as so many defeated sheep that have been successfully corralled with the gate slammed shut by good old Comma the Sheepdog. ~ Lynne Truss

I don't know what I can and can't do, Cruce, but I will learn, and quickly, and if you make me learn the hard way, I'll turn every bit of it against you. I can be the sheepdog that walks at your side, or I can be the wolf you don't want living in your backyard. The powerful, hungry, savage, and pissed-off wolf, and I promise you, I will delight in destroying your backyard. I have a long memory and few scruples left. It's your call, babe. ~ Karen Marie Moning

lived my adolescence like a sheepdog moving through a flock of dirty, very stupid sheep. ~ Jeff Lindsay

The two soldiers laughed, and even the king smiled. Reinforcing Costis's suspicion that Eugenides had been responsible for Ornon's lost sheep, Boagus asked, "Do you still baa like a lamb when he walks into the room?"
Eugenides shook his head. "Ornon took me aside first thing after the coronation and explained that it would be against my dignity."
Aulus and Boagus stared. Eugenides expression was bland.
"He said that?" Aulus asked.
"He did," the king confirmed.
"What did you say?" Boagus asked suspiciously.
"I promised to bark like a sheepdog instead."
The Eddisians chuckled again.
"You don't, though?" Aulus had to ask.
The king eyed him with disgust. "Give me some credit," He said, and when Aulus was visibly relieved, added, "Not when anybody else can hear me. ~ Megan Whalen Turner

My guess is that most Australians today would vote for Babe. A piglet who dreams of being a statesmanlike sheepdog. Who merely by asking politely, can lead the electorate two by two through the gate where the grass is always greener. ~ Wendy Harmer