# Quote — Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

> If the rat had not looked over his shoulder, perhaps his heart would not have broken. And it is possible, then, that I would not have a story to tell. But, reader, he did look.

- Author: [Kate DiCamillo](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-dicamillo.md)
- Book: [The Tale of Despereaux](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-dicamillo/the-tale-of-despereaux.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_DiCamillo#The_Tale_of_Despereaux_(2004)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-dicamillo/the-tale-of-despereaux/if-the-rat

## More from this book

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

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-dicamillo/the-tale-of-despereaux/stories-are-light.md)

> Despereaux did not know it, but he would need, very soon, to be brave himself.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-dicamillo/the-tale-of-despereaux/despereaux-did-not.md)

> There is those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves is a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-dicamillo/the-tale-of-despereaux/there-is-those.md)