“ 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
“ Rob sat out on the curb in front of the motel room and waited for Sistine to come back from using the phone. Kate DiCamillo
“ Oh, my goodness, said Louisiana. I’m just all filled up with feathers and regrets. And fears. I have a lot of fears. Kate DiCamillo
“ It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak words that matter. Kate DiCamillo
“ I don't understand,' said Despereaux.'And you will not understand until you lose what you love... Kate DiCamillo
“ 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
“ 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
“ Flora’s heart, the lonely, many-armed squid of it, flipped and flailed inside of her. Kate DiCamillo
“ 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 h… Kate DiCamillo
“ And he discovered, finally, the source of the honey-sweet sound.The sound was music.The sound was King Phillip playing his guitar and singing for his daughter, the Princess Pea, every night before she… Kate DiCamillo
“ All words at all times, true or false, whispered or shouted, are clues to the workings of the human heart. Kate DiCamillo
“ It could not be proven whether God existed, one might as well believe that he did, because there was everything to gain by believing and nothing to lose. Kate DiCamillo
“ What was the apostrophe doing there? Did the doctor own the Meescham? And what was it with exclamation marks? Did people not know what they were for? Surprise, anger, joy—that's what exclamation marks… Kate DiCamillo
“ What was it like... to have someone who knew you would always return and who welcomed you with open arms? Kate DiCamillo
“ That squid is a villain, said Flora out loud. He needs to be vanquished. He's eating a boat. And he's going to eat all of the people on the boat.Yes, well, loneliness makes us do terrible things, said… Kate DiCamillo
“ That is surely the truth, at least for now. But perhaps you have not noticed: the truth is forever changing. Kate DiCamillo
“ Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.And because Despereaux wanted very much to live, he said, Once upon a time... Kate DiCamillo
