Kathi Appelt > Quotes

“Purring is not so different from praying. To a tree, a cat's purr is one of the purest of all prayers, for in it lies a whole mixture of gratitude and longing, the twin ingredients of every prayer.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Humans are designed to be with other humans, even those with mixed blood. They need each other's laughter. They require each other's sorrows.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“(He) had not realized how much he needed this sweet, friendly sound. How much he needed someone to settle in next to him. He didn't know that he needed to not be so solitary until at last he wasn't. So many needs in one old dog.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Like the sweet moon keeps the sky
Like the wind goin' whooshing by
When those ol' sunbeams break the day
I will keep you while you play
Just as ol' river keeps the fishes
And little stars keep silver wishes
Just as the ocean keeps the blue
I will stand here close to you.
When all around is dark and deep
When them ol' shadows slowly creep
Even when you're fast asleep
It's you I'll keep, it's you I'll keep
No need to cry, no need to fear
I will always be right here.
I will always be right here.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“It's a soft-sounding word, 'never,' but its velvety timbre can't hide its sharp edges...Never pressed down on him. It grabbed him by the neck and shook him. He sucked in a deep breath, sucked in all that never and started to sneeze. Never filled his nose, his eyes, his soaking fur.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Memory is a slippery thing. When something terrible happens to you, like the loss of someone you love...memory can turn into a soft blanket that hides you from the loss.”
― Kathi Appelt

“They say that lightning never strikes in the same place twice, but the same is not true for courage. As it turns out, when courage strikes, it almost always begets more courage.”
― Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

“Nosotros somos paisanos. We are fellow countrymen. We come from the same soil.”
― Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

“Oh, I woke up on this bayou,
Got a chain around my heart.
Yes, I'm sitting on this bayou,
Got a chain tied 'round my heart.
Can't you see I'm dyin'?
Can't you see I'm cryin'?
Can't you throw an old dog a bone?
Oh, I woke up, it was rainin',
But it was tears came fallin' down.
Yes, I woke up, it was rainin',
But it was tears came fallin' down.
Can't you see I'm tryin'?
Can't you hear my cryin'?
Can't you see I'm all alone?
Can't you throw this old dog a bone?”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“He put his hand in his pocket and found the porte-bonheur, still warm. He looked back at the pier. The one-eyed cat waited. All at once, Henri Beauchamp spun on his heels and stretched his arms wide to the morning sky. It didn't matter, did it, what Jack was? It only mattered that he loved him.”
― Kathi Appelt, Keeper

“There's something to be said for visibility, something about being easier to love.”
― Kathi Appelt, My Father's Summers: A Daughter's Memoir

“For trees, who see so much sorrow, so much anger, so much desperation, know love for the rare wonder of it, so they are champions of it and will do whatever they can to help it along its way.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“THERE IS NOTHING lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Tennessee. Now there's a name for you. His mama named him that on account of their last name being so regular. 'With a plain vanilla name like Jones, you gotta have a first name that's special,' she'd said.”
― Kathi Appelt, Kissing Tennessee: And Other Stories from the Stardust Dance

“It's a soft-sounding word, "never", but its velvety timbre can't hide its sharp edges.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Whenever there is a breeze in the old forest, you might, for a moment, realize that the trees are singing. There, on the wind, are the voices of sugarberry and juniper and maple...”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“THE WORLD IS made of patterns. The rings of a tree. The raindrops on the dusty ground. The path the sun follows from morning to dusk.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“For trees, stories never end, they simply fold one into another. Where one begins to close, another begins to open, so that none are ever finished, not really.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Of all the merfolk, Keeper loved Yemaya best. Goddess of the deep. Yemaya. If you gave her a gift, she might grant a wish.”
― Kathi Appelt, Keeper

“Here, she curled up in a tight ball and waited, purred to her unborn babies. And the trees, the tall and kindly trees, watched over her while she slept, slept the whole night through.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath

“Dogie’s surfboards were like works of art. Splashed across their rainbow-colored decks were air-brushed paintings of waterfalls and sea dragons and a host of other fantastic creatures. Her favorite painting was a winged horse that looked like part horse and part comet, with its long tail blazing down the length of the board.”
― Kathi Appelt, Keeper

“The same wind that crept around the massive feet of the dinosaurs now swirls around the toes of baby koalas.”
― Kathi Appelt, Once Upon a Camel

“By the time we grow very old, all our wishes have either been granted, or they haven't. Some stay with us so long that they simply become part of who we are; they grow old with us, and might even turn gray, like our hair or our whiskers.”
― Kathi Appelt, Once Upon a Camel

“...the worst thing you can do to a cat is embarrass it.”
― Kathi Appelt, Once Upon a Camel

“It doesn’t come up ever, and yet it comes up always.”
― Kathi Appelt

“Trees are the arbiters of time, gathering up the hours and days and years, keeping them in their circular rings. They know that forgetting is not so easy. The blackjacks, the water oaks, the sumacs, they all had time to spare, and more.”
― Kathi Appelt, The Underneath