Kate DiCamillo > Quotes

“Open your heart. Someone will come. Someone will come for you. But first you must open your heart.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“There ain't no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.”
― Kate DiCamillo, 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, The Tale of Despereaux

“You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie

“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken. Picking up the spoon and placing it on his head, speaking of revenge, these things helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“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, 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, The Tale of Despereaux

“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, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“My favorite six letter word is
always
because it promises
so much.

My favorite five letter word is
never
because it insists on contradicting
the promise.

My favorite four letter word is
once
because it says it
happened then.

My favorite three letter word is
yes
because I’m just now learning
to say it
to my heart.

My favorite two letter word is
if
because it makes
all things possible
like this:

If not always
If not never
Then once.

Yes.”
― Kate Dicamillo

“Love, as we have already discussed, is a powerful, wonderful, ridiculous thing, capable of moving mountains. And spools of thread.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“This is the danger of loving: No matter how powerful you are, no matter how many kingdoms you rule, you cannot stop those you love from dying.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak the words that matter.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“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, The Tale of Despereaux

“If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“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, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“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, The Tale of Despereaux

“It is a bad thing to have love and nowhere to put it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“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. (page 103)”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“Perhaps," said the man, "you would like to be lost with us. I have found it much more agreeable to be lost in the company of others.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“I have been loved, Edward told the stars. So? said the stars. What difference does that make when you are all alone now?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“Nothing
would be
easier without
you,
because you
are
everything,
all of it-
sprinkles, quarks, giant
donuts, eggs sunny-side up-
you
are the ever-expanding
universe
to me.”
― Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

“Reader, do you think it is a terrible thing to hope when there is really no reason to hope at all? Or is it (as the soldier said about happiness) something that you might just as well do, since, in the end, it really makes no difference to anyone but you?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“READING SHOULD NOT BE PRESENTED TO CHILDREN AS A CHORE OR A DUTY. IT SHOULD BE OFFERED TO THEM AS A PRECIOUS GIFT.”
― Kate DiCamillo

“Magic is always impossible.... It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it's magic.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant

“Despereaux marveled at his own bravery.
He admired his own defiance.
And then, reader, he fainted.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“Look at me, he said to her. His arms and legs jerked. Look at me. You got your wish. I have learned how to love. And it’s a terrible thing. I’m broken. My heart is broken. Help me. The old woman turned and hobbled away. Come back, thought Edward. Fix me”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

“How will the world change if we do not question it?”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant