the story is not a pretty one. there is violence in it. And cruelty. But stories that are not pretty have a certain value, too, I suppose. Everything, as you well know (having lived in...

The story is about what happens when you share your heart with somebody else; it is also about the danger of keeping things locked up.

It is our duty and our joy to communicate our hearts to each other. Words assist us in this task.

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

Farewell” is a word that, in any language, is full of sorrow. It is a word that promises absolutely nothing.

I like to think of myself as a storyteller.

Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.

Understand, I had absolutely no interest in writing; I wanted to be a Writer.

The sound of the king’s music made Despereaux’s soul grow large and light inside of him.

Everything I write comes from my childhood in one way or another. I am forever drawing on the sense of mystery and wonder and possibility that pervaded that time of my life.

She said the words, and then she had a strange moment of seeing them, hanging there over her head. “You’re going to vacuum up that squirrel!”There is just no predicting what kind of sentences you...

I think of myself as an enormously lucky person.

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.

Nothingwould beeasier withoutyou,because youare everything,all of it-sprinkles, quarks, giantdonuts, eggs sunny-side up-youare the ever-expandinguniverseto me.

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...

Normally, Edward would have found intrusive, clingy behavior of this sort very annoying, but there was something about Sarah Ruth. He wanted to take care of her. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to...

Hands down, the biggest thrill is to get a letter from a kid saying, I loved your book. Will you write me another one?

Dear God, thank you for warm summer nights and candlelight and good food. But thank you most of all for friends. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And...

I thought I was going nowhere. Now I can see there was a pattern.

You can’t always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.

I love your round head,the brilliant green,the watching blue,these letters,this world, you.I am very, very hungry.

He was agitated for some reason that he could not name. (page 35)

Magic is always impossible. It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That’s why it is magic.

I always write with music. It takes me a while to figure out the right piece of music for what I’m working on. Once I figure it out, that’s the only thing I’ll play.

It is a horrible, terrible thing, the worst thing, to watch somebody you love die right in front of you and not be able to do nothing about it.

I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults.

If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.

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....

You can always trust a dog that likes peanut butter.

Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.

I am busier now than I ever imagined I would be, but I feel blessed in that I have found what I am supposed to be doing with my life. It’s wonderful to tell stories...

But that is impossible,” said Peter.”Magic is always impossible,” said the magician. “It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it is magic.

I work full-time in a used bookstore. I get up. I drink a cup of coffee. I think, The last thing I want to do is write. Then I go to the computer and write.

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...

Stories are light.

It’s hard not to immediately fall in love witha dog who has a good sense of humor.

The words were good words, Ulysses felt, maybe even great words, but the list was very incomplete. He was just getting started. The words needed to be arranged, fussed with, put in the order of...

I am single and childless, but I have lots of friends and I am an aunt to three lovely children.

What is?’, he said. ‘What if?’ is a question that belongs to magic.

I’m at the mercy of whatever character comes into my head.

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

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.

Desperaux,” she said. He saw his name on her lips.”I honor you,” whispered Desperaux. “I honor you.

It is all gone, though Peter. All of it is gone! And there is no way to get it back.’Eat,’ said Leo Matienne again, very gently.Peter looked the truth of what he had lost full...

I didn’t know anything about writing a screenplay, but somehow I ended up rewriting a screenplay.

There ain’t no point in making soup unless others eat it. Soup needs another mouth to taste it, another heart to be warmed by it.

Ideally, I’d like to work part time at the bookstore. That would give me more time to contend with all the office work of writing.

Men and boys always want to go fight. They are always looking for a reason to go to war. It is the saddest thing. They have this abiding notion that war is fun. And no...

Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness.

He would write and write. He would make wonderful things happen. Some of it would be true. All of it would be true. Most of it would be true.