Quotes from Kate DiCamillo

Let her have her dangerous will.

What was the apostrophe doing there? Did the doctor own the Meescham? And what was it with exclamation marks? Did people not know what they were for? Surprise, anger, joy—that's what exclamation marks were for. They had nothing to do with who resided where.

Life was so short; so many beautiful things slipped away. Where, for instance, were his brothers now? He did not know; he could not say. Madam

This malfeasance must be stopped," said Flora in a deep and superheroic voice.

Well now, look at that," she said. "That dog is smiling at me." "It's a talent of his," I told her. "It is a fine talent," Miss Franny said. "A very fine talent." And she smiled back at Winn-Dixie. "We could be friends," I said to Miss Franny. "I mean you and me and Winn-Dixie, we could all be friends.

The story is smarter than I am.

You have a gift, Louisiana, and the more of yourself you put into the song, the more powerful—the more truthful—the song becomes.

The April sun, weak but determined, shone through a castle window and from there squeezed itself through a small hole in the wall and placed one golden finger on the little mouse.

READ. You have no business wanting to be a writer unless you are a reader. You should read fantasies and essays, biographies and poetry, fables and fairy tales. Read, read, read, read, read.

If only I had wings, he thought, I could fly to her.

Putting on socks is hard work, said Bink. I'm hungry.

If the world held magic powerful enough to make the elephant appear, then there must exist, too, magic in equal measure, magic powerful enough to undo what had been done.

It is very dangerous for you to be who you are, said Brother Edik. and so you must pretend to be someone you are not. But how can I pretend to be someone I am not when I don't know who I am?

What matters when all is said and done is not who puts us down but who picks up.

I have been loved, Edward told the stars.

They lived happily ever after. It said so. In the book. They were the last words on the page. Happily ever after. Despereaux was sure that he had read exactly those words time and time again. Lying on the floor with the drum beating and the mice shouting... Despereaux had a sudden, chilling thought: Had some other mouse eaten the words that spoke the truth? Did the knight and the fair maiden really not live happily ever after?

It was important to me to hear how Littmus survived after losing everything he loved.

It's kind of a strange church and I thought Winn-Dixie would fit right in.

Yes, said Cook. That is soup that you are smelling. The princess, not that you would know or care, is missing, bless her goodhearted self. and times are terrible. and when times are terrible, soup is the answer. Don't it smell like the answer?

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

Quest. Say it, reader. Say the word quest lout loud. It is an extraordinary word, isn't it? So small and yet so full of wonder, so full of hope.

Pea was aware suddenly of how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light.

You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.

He said, 'I forgive you, Pa. And he said those words because he sensed that it was the only way to save his own heart, to stop it from breaking in two. Despereaux, reader, spoke those words to save himself.