Kate DiCamillo citations

Page 2

“Did you think that rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart. And the heart of any living thing can be broken.”

“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?”

“There ain't a body, be it mouse or man, that ain't made better by a little soup.”

“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?”

“Forgiveness, reader, is, I think, something very much like hope and love - a powerful, wonderful thing.
And a ridiculous thing, too.”

“It is a horrible, terrible thing, the worst thing, to watch somebody you love die right in front of you and not be able to do nothing about it.”

“You are down there alone, the stars seemed to say to him. And we are up here, in our constellations, together.”

“I promise to always turn back toward you.”

“But answer me this: how can a story end happily if there is no love?”

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

“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.”

“But let's not speak of what might have been. Let us speak instead of what is. You are whole.”

“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.”

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

“Life was so short; so many beautiful things slipped away.”

“Don't we all live in our heads? Where else could we possibly exist? Our brainsthe universe.”

“No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.”

“Other people’s tragedies should not be the subject of idle conversation.”

“Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.”

“Men and boys always want to go fight. They are always looking for a reason to go to war. It is the saddest thing. They have this abiding notion that war is fun. And no history lesson will convince them differently.”

“And hope is like love… a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.”

“Thinking about her was the same as the hole you keep on feeling with your tongue after you lose a tooth. Time after time, my mind kept going to that empty spot, the spot where I felt like she should be.”

“They were always on the move. But in truth said bull we are all going nowhere”

“What was it like… to have someone who knew you would always return and who welcomed you with open arms?”

“We forget that the simple gesture of putting a book in someone's hands can change a life. I want to remind you that it can. I want to thank you because it did. - 2010 Indies Choice Award”

“You are the ever-expanding universe to me”

“We must ask ourselves these questions as often as we dare. How will the world change if we do not question it?”

“Longing is not always a reciprocal thing.”

“Despereaux," she whispered.
And then she shouted it, "Despereaux!"
Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.
Nothing.”