Kate DiCamillo Quotes

77 Sourced Quotes

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 world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

Kate DiCamillo
That was the thing about tragedy. It was just sitting there, keeping you company, waiting. And you had absolutely no idea.

Kate DiCamillo
Her mother called to her. She said, "Where are you going, Flora Belle?"
Flora didn't answer her. She never answered her mother when she called her Flora Belle.
Sometimes she didn't answer her mother when she called her Flora either.

Kate DiCamillo
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
All of God's creatures have names, every last one of them. Of that I am sure: of that I have no doubt at all.

Kate DiCamillo
Besides, who ever asked you what you wanted in this world, girl? The answer to that question, reader, as you well know, was absolutely no one.

Kate DiCamillo
During the night, while Bull and Lucy slept, Edward, with ever-open eyes, stared up at the constellations. He said their names, and then he said the names of the people who loved him. He started with Abilene, and then went on to Nellie and Lawrence and from there to Bull and Lucy, and then he ended again with Abilene: Abilene, Nellie, Lawrence, Bull, Lucy, Abilene. See? Edward told Pellegrina. I am not like the princess. I know about love.

Kate DiCamillo
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
Flora hated the phrase 'correct me if I'm wrong.' In her experience, people said it when they knew they were right.

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 marveled at his own bravery. He admired his own defiance. And then, reader, he fainted.

Kate DiCamillo
Allow me to congratulate you on your very astute powers of observation.

Kate DiCamillo
Poetry. He liked the word — its smallness, its density, the way it rose up at the end as if it had wings.

Kate DiCamillo
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
Not much goes on in the mind of a squirrel.
Huge portions of what is loosely termed "the squirrel brain" are given over to one thought: food.
The average squirrel cogitation goes something like this: I wonder what there is to eat.

Kate DiCamillo
When you are a king, you may make as many ridiculous laws as you like. That is what being a king is all about.

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

Kate DiCamillo
Reader, you may ask this question; in fact, you must ask this question: Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to fall in love with a beautiful human princess named Pea?
The answer is... yes. Of course, it's ridiculous.
Love is ridiculous.

Kate DiCamillo
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.

Kate DiCamillo
If the rat had not looked over his shoulder, perhaps his heart would not have broken. And it is possible, then, that I would not have a story to tell. But, reader, he did look.

Kate DiCamillo
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
'Farewell' is not the word that you would like to hear from your mother as you are being led to the dungeon by two oversize mice in black hoods. Words that you would like to hear are 'Take me instead. I will go to the dungeon in my son's place.' There is a great deal of comfort in those words.

Kate DiCamillo
She never believed it when someone said there was good news. In her experience, when there was good news, people just said what the good news was. If there was bad news that they wanted you to believe was good news, then they said, 'Good news!'

Kate DiCamillo
Fairy tales don't tell you that dragons are real, but that they can be defeated!

Kate DiCamillo