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.

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.

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

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.

You like them, " I realized.Noah's eyebrows lifted in question."Like as people.""As opposed to...furniture?""They're my PARENTS.""That is my understanding, yes.

There's nothing better than going out there and seeing USA on your leotard.

A man must know his limitations.

Most of us have more potential than we will ever develop. What holds us back is often a lack of courage.

What's funny is that there's a lot of great Australian actors in American movies but you don't often hear them do their Australian, original accent.

I honor religion except when it gets into shedding blood.

Most women are damn fools and children. But they've got more range than we've got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better - and the vile ones are viler, for that matter.

The best films are because of nobody but the director.

I have a theory that if you've got the kind of parents who want to send you to boarding school, you're probably better off at boarding school.

Conrad Hilton was very generous in the divorce settlement. He gave me 5,000 Gideon Bibles.