Carlo Collodi

“Once upon a time there was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive piece of wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood, one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire in winter to make cold rooms cozy and warm.”

“A boy's appetite grows very fast, and in a few moments the queer, empty feeling had become hunger, and the hunger grew bigger and bigger, until soon he was as ravenous as a bear.”

“How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how happy I am, now that I have become a real boy!”

“How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter, found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a child.”

“Pinocchio, spurred on by the hope of finding his father and of being in time to save him, swam all night long.”

“At such a loving invitation, Pinocchio, with one leap from the back of the orchestra, found himself in the front rows. With another leap, he was on the orchestra leader's head. With a third, he landed on the stage.”

“When poverty shows itself, even mischievous boys understand what it means.”

“Would it be possible to find a more ungrateful boy, or one with less heart than I have!”

“Fancy the happiness of Pinocchio on finding himself free! Without saying yes or no, he fled from the city and set out on the road that was to take him back to the house of the lovely Fairy.”

“Today at school I will learn to read at once; then tomorrow I will begin to write, and the day after tomorrow to cipher. Then with my acquirements I will earn a great deal of money, and with the first money I have in my pocket I will immediately buy for my papa a beautiful new cloth coat. But what am I saying? Cloth, indeed! It shall be all made of gold and silver, and it shall have diamond buttons. That poor man really deserves it; for to buy me books and to have me taught he has remained in his shirt sleeves... And in this cold! It is only fathers who are capable of such sacrifices!...”

“A thousand woodpeckers flew in through the window and settled themselves on Pinocchio's nose.”