The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.
Furlough?” He said. “What?” said the first hood irritably. Despereaux shuddered. His own brother was delivering him to the dungeon. His heart stopped beating and shrunk to a small, cold, disbelieving pebble.
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.
There ain't a body, be it mouse or man, that ain't made better by a little soup.
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 this world long enough to have figured out a thing or two for you...
Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.
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.
Desperaux," she said. He saw his name on her lips. "I honor you," whispered Desperaux. "I honor you.
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 ...
And hope is like love...a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.
The sound of the king's music made Despereaux's soul grow large and light inside of him.
Despereaux was reading the story out loud to himself. He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end...
