Quotes from book
The Tale of Despereaux

Name: The Tale of Despereaux
Author: Kate DiCamillo

The Tale of Despereaux is a 2003 fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rats. The novel is divided into four "books" and ends with a coda. Each "book" tells the story from a different character's or group of characters' perspective, and finally all of them combined. The book won the 2004 Newbery Medal award.

“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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: 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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

“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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

“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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“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.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

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

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

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

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

“Despereaux marveled at his own bravery. He admired his own defiance. And then, reader, he fainted. :(”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

“Everything, as you well know… cannot always be sweetness and light.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“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.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“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. so trthen despererux died i n heaven and in peace”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name. Nothing.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Variant: Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name. Nothing.
Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

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

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: 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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: 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 book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

“The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)
Context: Despereaux looked down at the book, and something remarkable happened. The marks on the pages, the "squiggles" as Merlot referred to them, arranged themselves into shapes. The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time