Kate DiCamillo > Quotes

“There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Despereaux = Tale of Despereaux

“My favorite six letter word is
always
because it promises
so much.

My favorite five letter word is
never
because it insists on contradicting
the promise.

My favorite four letter word is
once
because it says it
happened then.

My favorite three letter word is
yes
because I’m just now learning
to say it
to my heart.

My favorite two letter word is
if
because it makes
all things possible
like this:

If not always
If not never
Then once.

Yes.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“Love, as we have already discussed, is a powerful, wonderful, ridiculous thing, capable of moving mountains. And spools of thread.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Despereaux = Tale of Despereaux

“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken. Picking up the spoon and placing it on his head, speaking of revenge, these things helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Despereaux = Tale of Despereaux

“You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak the words that matter.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“Open your heart. Someone will come. Someone will come for you. But first you must open your heart. (Old Doll)
”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“This is the danger of loving: No matter how powerful you are, no matter how many kingdoms you rule, you cannot stop those you love from dying.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Despereaux marveled at his own bravery.
He admired his own defiance.
And then, reader, he fainted.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“The world is dark, and light is precious.
Come closer, dear reader.
You must trust me.
I am telling you a story.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“It is a bad thing to have love and nowhere to put it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“Once upon a time," he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Magic is always impossible.... It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it's magic.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“That is surely the truth, at least for now. But perhaps you have not noticed: the truth is forever changing.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Once there was a princess who was very beautiful. She shone bright as the stars on a moonless night. But what difference did it make that she was beautiful? None. No difference."
Why did it make no difference?" asked Abilene.
Because," said Pellegrina, "She was a princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love, even though there were many who loved her.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“Reader, do you think it is a terrible thing to hope when there is really no reason to hope at all? Or is it (as the soldier said about happiness) something that you might just as well do, since,in the end, it really makes no difference to anyone but you?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“READING SHOULD NOT BE PRESENTED TO CHILDREN AS A CHORE OR A DUTY. IT SHOULD BE OFFERED TO THEM AS A PRECIOUS GIFT.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“How will the world change if we do not question it?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“But, reader, there is no comfort in the word "farewell," even if you say it in French. "Farewell" is a word that,in any language, is full of sorrow. It is a word that promises absolutely nothing.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux's love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Fairy tales dont tell you that dragons are real, but that they can be defeated!”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end, where the reader was assured that the knight and the fair maiden lived together happily ever after.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“Have you, in truth, ever seen something so heartbreakingly lovely? What are we to make of a world where stars shine bright in the midst of so much darkness and gloom?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“There ain't a body, be it mouse or man, that ain't made better by a little soup.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Longing is not always a reciprocal thing.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“Say it, reader. Say the word 'quest' out loud. It is an extraordinary word, isn't it? So small and yet so full of wonder, so full of hope.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Pea was aware suddenly of how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light. She did not like the rat. She would neverlike the rat, but she knew what she must do to save her own heart.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Reader, you may ask this queston. In fact, you must ask this question. Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse fall in love with a beautiful princess named Pea? The answer is..

Yes. Of course it's ridiculous.
Love is ridiculous.
But love is also wonderful. And powerful.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“You can always trust a dog that likes peanut butter.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“Someone will come for you, but first you must open your heart...”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“Life was so short; so many beautiful things slipped away.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“the story is not a pretty one. there is violence in it. And cruelty. But stories that are not pretty have a certain value, too, I suppose. Everything, as you well know (having lived in this world long enough to have figured out a thing or two for yourself), cannont always be sweetness and light.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Edward knew what it was like to say over and over again the names of those you had left behind. He knew what it was like to miss someone. And so he listened. And in his listening, his heart opened wide and then wider still. (page 103)”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“Dear God, thank you for warm summer nights and candlelight and good food. But thank you most of all for friends. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“At the thought of being eaten by rats, Despereaux forgot about being brave. He forgot about not being a disappointment. He felt himself heading into another faint. But his mother, who had an excellent sense of dramatic timing, beat him to it; she executed a beautiful, flawless swoon, landing right at Despereaux's feet.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Despereaux = Tale of Despereaux

“What was it like...to have someone who knew you would always return and who welcomed you with open arms?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“We must ask ourselves these questions as often as we dare. How will the world change if we do not question it?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“It's hard not to immediately fall in love witha dog who has a good sense of humor.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“He was weeping. Although 'weeping' really is to small a word for the activity the kind had undertaken. Tears were cascading from his eyes. A small puddle had formed at his feet. I am not exaggerating. The king, it seemed, was intent on crying himself a river.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“Rats have a sense of humor. Rats, in fact think the world is very funny. And they are right, dear reader. They are right.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Despereaux looked at his father, at his grey-streaked fur and trembling whiskers and his front paws clasped together in front of his heart, and he felt suddenly as if his own heart would break in two. His father looked so small, so sad.
"Forgive me," said Lester again.
Forgiveness, reader, is, I think, something very much like hope and love - a powerful, wonderful thing.
And a ridiculous thing, too.
Isn't it ridiculous, after all, to think that a son could forgive his father for beating the drum that sent him to his death? Isn't it ridiculous to think that a mouse ever could forgive anyone for such perfidy?
But still, here are the words Despereaux Tilling spoke to his father. He said, "I forgive you, Pa."
And he said those words because he sensed it was the only way to save his own heart, to stop it from breaking in two. Despereaux, reader, spoke those words to save himself.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“There," she said. She rocked him back and forth. "There, you foolish, beautiful boy who wants to change the world. There, there. And who could keep from loving you? Who could keep from loving a boy so brave and true?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant