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Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

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Famous Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

“All children are heartless. They have not grown a heart yet, which is why they can climb tall trees and say shocking things and leap so very high that grown-up hearts flutter in terror. Hearts weigh quite a lot. That is why it takes so long to grow one. But, as in their reading and arithmetic and drawing, different children proceed at different speeds. (It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.) Some small ones are terrible and fey, Utterly Heartless. Some are dear and sweet and Hardly Heartless at all.”

WellsHeartChildrenLongDifferentReadingGrowsGrowthKnownTreeSweetTerribleDearTerrorSpeedDrawingClimbsLeapTallWell KnownShockingHeartlessArithmeticFeyTall TreesShocking Things
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Such lonely, lost things you find on your way. It would be easier, if you were the only one lost. But lost children always find each other, in the dark, in the cold. It is as though they are magnetized and can only attract their like. How I would like to lead you to brave, stalwart friends who would protect you and play games with dice and teach you delightful songs that have no sad endings. If you would only leave cages locked and turn away from unloved Wyverns, you could stay Heartless.”

IfsWayLoveChildrenPlayWould BeAgeSongTurnsGamesLostDarkTeachColdEasierProtectEmpathyLonelyBraveLockedDelightfulCagesHeartlessDiceProtect YouUnlovedStalwartLost ChildSad EndingLost Things
Book:The Fairyland Series
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“Because I’m a cat. A big one, the Panther of Rough Storms, in fact. But still a cat. If there’s a saucer of milk to spill, I’d rather spill it than let it lie. If my mistress grows absent-minded and leaves a ball of yarn about, I’ll bat it between my paws, and unravel it. Because it’s fun. Because it’s what cats do best.”

IfsStillsFactsBigsLyingFunGrowsCatBallsStormRoughMilkBatsMistressAbsentSpillsPawsPanthersYarnAbsent Minded
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“She liked anything orange: leaves; some moons; marigolds; chrysanthemums; cheese; pumpkin, both in pie and out; orange juice; marmalade. Orange is bright and demanding. You can't ignore orange things. She once saw an orange parrot in the pet store and had never wanted anything so much in her life. She would have named it Halloween and fed it butterscotch. Her mother said butterscotch would make a bird sick and, besides, the dog would certainly eat it up. September never spoke to the dog again — on principle.”

SaidWantedMotherPrinciplesSawsDogMoonBirdSickStoresPetSpokesFedsCheesePieSeptemberHalloweenOrangeJuicePumpkinParrotsOrange JuiceMarmaladeChrysanthemumsMarigoldsButterscotch
Book:The Fairyland Series
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“Wishes of one's old life wither and shrivel like old leaves if they are not replaced with new wishes when the world changes. And the world always changes. Wishes get slimy, and their colors fade, and soon they are just mud, like all the rest of the mud, and not wishes at all, but regrets. The trouble is, not everyone can tell when they ought to launder their wishes. Even when one finds oneself in Fairyland and not at home at all, it is not always so easy to remember to catch the world in it's changing and change with it.”

IfsWorldHomeRememberWishEasyTroubleColorRegretOughtOneselfFadesReplacedMudOld Life
Book:The Fairyland Series
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“I think that one morning, the Papess woke in her tower, and her blankets were so warm, and the sun was so golden, she could not bear it. I think she woke, and dressed, and washed her face in cold water, and rubbed her shaven head. I think she walked among her sisters, and for the first time saw that they were so beautiful, and she loved them. I think she woke up one morning of all her mornings, and found that her heart was as white as a silkworm, and the sun was clear as glass on her brow, and she believed then that she could live, and hold peace in her hand like a pearl.”

ThinkingFirstsHeartHandsBeautifulFacesFoundWaterWhiteMorningSunClearSawsColdBearsFirst TimeGlassesWarmGoldenTowersPearlsBlanketBrowsCold Water
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“The old order, it is good for the old. A farmer wants his son to be afraid of beautiful women, so that he will not leave home too soon, so he tells a story about how one drowned his brother’s cousin’s friend in a lake, not because he was a pig who deserved to be drowned, but because beautiful women are bad, and also witches. And it doesn’t matter that she didn’t ask to be beautiful, or to be born in a lake, or to live forever, or to not know how men breathe until they stop doing it.”

KnowsMenWantMatterStoriesHomeBeautifulOrderAsksBornKnow HowForeverSonBrotherBreatheLakesWitchFarmersPigsCousinBeautiful WomenLive ForeverDeathless
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Who are you?" "I am Death," said the creature. "I thought that was obvious." "But you're so small!" "Only because you are small. You are young and far from your Death, September, so I seem as anything would seem if you saw it from a long way off-very small, very harmless. But I am always closer than I appear. As you grow, I shall grow with you, until at the end, I shall loom huge and dark over your bed, and you will shut your eyes so as not to see me.”

IfsWayLongSaidEndsSeemsEyeYoungGrowsDarkSawsHugeBedCreaturesObviousSeptemberLong WayChildlike Wonder
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“Hats change everything. September knew this with all her being, deep in the place where she knew her own name, and that her mother would still love her even though she hadn’t waved goodbye. For one day her father had put on a hat with golden things on it and suddenly he hadn’t been her father anymore, he had been a soldier, and he had left. Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else.”

StillsMotherFatherNamesLeftOne DaySoldierGoldenGoodbyeHatsSeptember
Book:The Fairyland Series
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“Everyone is afraid of you and when folk are afraid of a person it usually means the person is cruel in some way, and I think you are cruel, Miss Marquess, but please don’t punish me for saying it. I think you know you’re cruel. I think you like being cruel. I think calling you cruel is the same as calling someone else kind. And I don’t want to run errands for someone cruel.”

ThinkingKnowsWayWantKindMeanPersonsRunningMissingPleaseCallingFolksErrandsCalling Someone
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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