What the Doormouse Said

Here are some quotes from a delightful little book called "What the Doormouse Said: Lessons for Grown-ups from Children's Books."

On fear:

Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened anymore.
- Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne, 1926

To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.
- Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Patterson, 1980

On defiance:

It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper.
- Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine, 1997

On imagination and adventure:

Every time a child says, "I don't believe in fairies," there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.
- Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie, 1911

I want to say that wonderful ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes you make a mistake, or break something, or lose a hat, and the next thing you know, you get a great idea.
- Max Makes a Million, Maira Kalman, 1990

On animals:

All the ingenious men, and all the scientific men, and all the fanciful men in the world... could never invent, if all their wits were boiled into one, anything so curious, and so ridiculous, as a lobster.
- The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley, 1863

Many dogs can understand almost every word humans say, while humans seldom learn to recognize more than half a dozen barks, if that.
- The 101 Dalmations, Dodie Smith, 1957