Roger Antoine Duvoisin, author of Petunia and Veronica.

“When Veronica reached the streets of the city, she knew she was different. THERE WAS NOT ANOTHER HIPPOPOTAMUS IN SIGHT.
Only people, and more people, and still more people —people who stared at her, bumped into her, and shouted angrily at her when she stepped on their toes.
She was gloriously conspicuous.”

Phyllis Krasilovsky, author of The Cow Who Fell in the Canal and The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes.

“Well, as the days went by he got hungrier and hungrier, and more and more tired, and so he never washed his dishes. After a while there were so MANY dirty dishes that they didn’t all fit in the sink. So he began to pile them on the table.”

Allen Say, Japanese-American author of The Bicycle Man and Grandfather’s Journey

“When I was a small boy I went to a school in the south island of Japan. The schoolhouse stood halfway up a tall green mountain. It was made of wood and the wood was gray with age. When a strong wind blew, the trees made the sound of waves and the building creaked like an old sailing ship. From the playground, we could see the town, the ships in the harbor, the shining sea.”

Tasha Tudor, illustrator of so many beautiful books for children and creator of a beautiful life in rural New England.

“Life isn’t long enough to do all you could accomplish. And what a privilege even to be alive. In spite of all the pollutions and horrors, how beautiful this world is. Supposing you only saw the stars once every year. Think what you would think. The wonder of it!”

Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

“Pierre’s madness consisted in not waiting, as he had formerly done, to discover personal attributes which he called ‘good qualities’ in people before loving them; his heart overflowed with love, and by loving without cause he never failed to discover undeniable reasons for loving.”