The world is dark, and light is precious.Come closer, dear reader.You must trust me.I am telling you a story.

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

Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.

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

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.

Despereaux was reading the story out loud to himself. He was reading from the beginning so that he could get to the end...

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.

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.

Stories are light.

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

The mud of this body-complex (pudgal - that which charges and disharges) is such that the harder one tries to get out, the deeper and deeper he sinks into it.

Scholarly acumen sharpens taste and judgment, but we must never mistake criticism for art. Intellectual analysis, however heady, will not nourish the soul.

That challenge you have right now...it’s not a wall

As a little boy, I wanted to be a policeman. And then as I got older, and I saw my dad in the car business, an automobile executive.

A mighty pain to love it is, And 'tis a pain that pain to miss; But, of all pains, the greatest pain Is to love, but love in vain.

Our problem is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and hit.

The eagles ruled the air as the tribes ruled the land.

Clearly I know, the mind is mountains, rivers, and the great earth; sun, moon, and stars.

The moment you're loved, that's when you got your soul.

We made mad love shadow love random love and abandoned love. Accidentally like a martyr. The hurt gets worse, and the heart gets harder.