"Telling the complete story of VeggieTales would require much more time than we have before us tonight. Since this is Yale, I decided to craft a shorter version of the story, using very large words. Remembering though that I was kicked out of Bible College before I’d had a chance to learn many very large words, I concluded that my only remaining option was to tell the story simply, using simple words, and chance the consequences."

"VeggieTales is something that, on paper, makes no sense at all. It is a series of children’s videos where limbless, talking vegetables act out Bible stories. Try raising money with that pitch."

"Thanks for coming! And, I have to make another movie, now."

"And for two years, we had this sign up saying we will finish this movie and we changed it to 'did' finish the movie."

"Say you've been to MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Disney Studios in Orlando, you'll know that there's an animation studio where you actually walk out of the back door of the animation studio and you're in a theme park. Now you say, hey, that's pretty cool. Could any animation studio have a sort of situation like that that is any cooler? And you think not. Well, you're wrong, I'd say, because here at Big Idea when we walk out our back door, We have the Timework button, we push the button, we open the door[...] and, we're in a mall. Disney has nothing on this. You can be animating one moment, buying candy by the pound the next, or taking a ride on a little train, or going to the food court."

"That's right! You're watching the DVD! So, the coolness of what the bowing man is doing is self-evident to you!"

"As you can see, we're about to visit our lower level which is--for the most part--full of "Mens" and "Infants"."

"This is where we store our bicycles. A lot of people ride their bikes to work here. And, of course, there has to be a robot to protect them and make sure they don't get stolen like R2D2 in episode two where he did a very bad job in protecting Princess Amidala from those worm things. But this robot is significantly more effective as a theft-deterrent system than R2D2 was in that film. That's why the bikes are here."

"I'll very often just start humming my way through a scene. Say, OK the tempo should be about like this, it should pause here, it should pick up here. And very often I'll make up a little melody just to do that. About half of the little melodies in the score for Jonah are those little melodies that I made up just to use to kind of pace a scene and then we got kind of attached to them."

"The ending of the film seems so bizarre. It is actually probably the most literal retelling of the story of Jonah from the Bible that you've ever bumped into."

"It is pretty clear in the Bible story that the whale swallowing Jonah wasn't meant as a punishment from God, it was God saving him from drowning. So it was actually provision to give him a second chance. The whale itself was the start of Jonah's second chance."

"When we retell a Bible story at Big Idea we will go through the Bible story very carefully. We'll figure out the key plot points, they key themes and we'll set those aside as, you know, sacred, cannot be messed with. And then, we'll mess with everything else. We'll just have lots and lots of goofy fun with everything else to make the story fresh even to grown-ups."

"The most important thing is not the work I can do for God. The most important thing is to make God the most important thing."

"The messages our kids receive from teachers, coaches--and even, with the best intentions, from us — can push them toward pride or despair...toward self-righteousness or self-hatred."

"An odd outlook on life is the beginning of good comedic writing."

"We're all broken. We're all messed up pigs. When we can accept that, we're ready to become the new creations God intended us to be. And that's when the fun starts!"

"I expected Vischer’s story to be interesting, but I wasn’t ready for a thriller. The book begins with Vischer relating his childhood in a light and fun manner, but by the middle of the book when he was pouring out gritty details from his heart, I kept stopping myself from flipping to later chapters to see how exactly this story would end up."

"Have you ever been tempted to start your own business- First read this cautionary tale, especially if you think your ideas come from God."

"The impact God has planned for us doesn't occur when we're pursuing impact. It occurs when we're pursuing God."

"I am growing increasingly convinced that if every one of these kids burning with passion to write that hit Christian song or make that hit Christian movie or start that hit Christian ministry to change the world would instead focus their passion on walking with God on a daily basis, the world would change."

"Why does God want us to let go of our dreams? Because anything you are unwilling to let go of is an idol, and you are in sin."

"Mike: I'm Mike Chapman from homestarrunner.com! People are all the time asking me "Mike, how do you do those stupid voices for your dumb animal characters?" and I say "I'm Mike! Matt does the voices!" Let's go!"

"Matt: ... Expectations, keep 'em down. Ankle level."

"Matt: Having no plan and low expectations always makes the future look brighter."

"Love is a self-manifested notion depending on how lonely you are - so if you're really attracted to someone, and you're really lonely, I think you can fall in love in an instant. It's all about where you're at."