44 pages • 1 hour read
Phil KnightShoe Dog
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Important Quotes
“I wanted to experience what the Chinese call Tao, the Greeks call Logos, the Hindus call Jnana, the Buddhists call Dharma. What the Christians call Spirit.”
(Chapter 1, Page 10)
Though Knight’s trip around the world as a young man is partially inspired by a desire to do business in Japan, it is also inspired by a yearning to connect with the world in a deep and spiritual way.
“Driving to my hotel, however, I saw only darkness. Vast sections of the city were total liquid black. ‘War,’ the cabdriver said.”
(Chapter 1, Page 21)
The fact that the United States bombed much of Japan in World War II provides a subtext to nearly all of Knight’s earliest business interactions in Japan.
“I found everything about it interesting. Even musical. Each time a shoe was molded, the metal last would fall to the floor with a silvery tinkle, a melodic CLING-clong.”
(Chapter 1, Page 27)
Knight describes his first visit to Onitsuka, the first shoe factory he ever sees, as magic and eye-opening. This foreshadows the many shoe factories he will visit throughout his later career.
