Did you think that rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart. And the heart of any living thing can be broken.

If there is anything that I think I might use later, I underline it.

The closest I can get to describing what happens is that voices come to me. I feel like I'm accessing something that is deeper and richer than me.

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

Longing is not always a reciprocal thing.

But still, here are the words Despereaux Tilling spoke to his father. He said, "I forgive you, Pa!" And he said those words because he sensed that it was the only way to save his heart, to stop it from breaking in two. Despereaux, reader, spoke those words to save himself.

It is a bad thing to have love and nowhere to put it.