The Tiger Rising Quotes

“Her words sounded the way all those things made him feel, as if the world, the real world, had been punched through, so that he could see something wonderful and dazzling on the other side of it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Oh,” said Sistine. And Rob realized then why he liked Sistine so much. He liked her because when she saw something beautiful, the sound of her voice changed. All the words she uttered had an oof sound to them, as if she was getting punched in the stomach. The sound was in her voice when she talked about the Sistine Chapel and when she looked at the things he carved in wood. It was there when she said the poem about the tiger burning bright, and it was there when she talked about Willie May being a prophetess. Her words sounded the way all those things made him feel, as if the world, the real world, had been punched through, so that he could see something wonderful and dazzling on the other side of it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“As they walked back to the Kentucky Star, Rob thought about what Willie May had said about the tiger rising on up. It reminded him of what she had said about his sadness needing to rise up. And when he thought about the two things together, the tiger and his sadness, the truth circled over and above him and then came and landed lightly on his shoulder. He knew what he had to do.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“He must, he realized, know somewhere, deep inside him, more things than he had ever dreamed of.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“tiger”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” Sistine said, “home of the Liberty Bell, and I hate the South because the people in it are ignorant. And I’m not staying here in Lister. My father is coming to get me next week.” She looked around the room defiantly. “Well,” said Mrs. Soames, “thank you very much for introducing yourself, Sistine Bailey. You may take your seat before you put your foot in your mouth any farther.” The”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“I made you something,”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“composed”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Then Rob remembered the name of the feeling that was pushing up inside him, filling him full to overflowing. It was happiness. That was what it was called.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“And Rob knew then that he had picked the right person to tell.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Did Rob make it?” Sistine asked Willie May. “He did,” said Willie May. “It looks alive. Is it like your bird that you let go?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“purposefully”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“A what?” said Willie May.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“leave you alone.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“You some pair,”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Where’s your dress?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Beauchamp”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“cock his head this way and that. Called him Cricket, on”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“leprosy.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Hey, disease boy!” Norton shouted. “We know what you got. It’s called”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Kentucky”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“If you knew about something that was locked up in a cage, something big and beautiful that was locked away unfairly, for no good reason, and you had the key to the cage, would you let it go?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“had held the gun that shot the tiger. They were the hands that put the medicine on his legs. They were the hands that had held him when he cried. They were complicated hands, Rob thought.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“He can put us in jail for trespassing. I don’t care.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“I know something that’s in a cage,” said Rob, pushing the words past the tightness in his throat. Willie May nodded her head, but she wasn’t listening. She was looking past Rob, past the white sheet, past the laundry room, past the Kentucky Star. “Who don’t?” she said finally. “Who don’t know something in a cage?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“That night,”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“and cheese”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“thought. “You want some macaroni”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“Thank you.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising

“The three of them walked through the woods in silence. Sistine and Rob chewed Eight Ball gum,”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising