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Catherynne M. Valente

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Famous Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

“I have terrible nightmares, you know. Every night when I come home from a long day’s dying, I take off my skin and lay it nicely on my armoire. I take off my bones and hang them up on the hatstand. I set my scythe to washing on the old stove. I eat a nice supper of mouse-and-myrrh soup. Some nights I drink off a nice red wine. White does not agree with me. I lay myself down on a bed of lilies and still, I cannot sleep.”

KnowsLongDoeStillsHomeNightSleepWhiteNiceDyingTerribleDrinkBedRedSkinsAgreeWineLaysBonesNightmareComing HomeEvery NightMiceSoupWashingLiliesSupperStovesLong DayRed WineScythes
Book:The Fairyland Series
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“That stirring which had fluttered in her on first glimpsing the sea—that stirring landlocked children know so well—moved in her now, with the golden stars over head, and the green fireflies glinting on the wooded shore. She carefully unfolded the stirring that she had so tightly packed away. It billowed out like a sail, and she laughed, despite herself, despite hunger and hard things ahead.”

KnowsFirstsWellsChildrenHardStarsSeaGreenMovedHungerGoldenDespiteShoreLaughedSailStirringHard ThingsFirefly
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“I have made calculations that would beggar your soul. What is it that villains always say at the end of stories? You and I are more alike than you think? Well,” the Marquess took September’s hand in hers and very gently kissed it. “We are. Oh, how alike we are! I feel very warmly towards you, and I only want to protect you, as I wish someone had protected me. Come, September, look out the window with me. It’s not a difficult thing. A show of faith, let’s call it.”

ThinkingWantFeelsWellsLooksMadeSoulEndsStoriesShowsHandsWishDifficultProtectWindowYour SoulVillainProtectedSeptemberBeggarDifficult ThingsCalculationsProtect You
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“True names,” said September wonderingly. “These are all true names. Like, when your parents call you to dinner and you don’t come and they call again but you still don’t come, and they call you by all your names together, and then, of course, you have to come, and right quick. Because true names have power, like Lye said. But I never told anyone my true name. The Green Wind told me not to. I didn’t understand what he meant, but I do now.”

SaidStillsTogetherCoursesNamesParentWindGreenDinnerSeptember
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“She put her hand on her chest. “I have magic yet. If you will set the clock working again, then I must be still. I have read quite as many stories as you, September. More, no doubt. And I know a secret you do not: I am not the villain. I am no dark lord. I am the princess in this tale. I am the maiden, with her kingdom stolen away. And how may a princess remain safe and protected through centuries, no matter who may assail her? She sleeps. For a hundred years, for a thousand. Until her enemies have all perished and the sun rises over her perfect, innocent face once more.”

IfsKnowsYearsMayStillsMatterStoriesHandsFacesDarkSleepPerfectSecretLordEnemySunDoubtMagicCenturyThousandSafeHundredTalesKingdomsInnocentClockNo DoubtChestsVillainPrincessProtectedSeptemberStolenMaidensSun Rise
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Chyerti—that’s us, demons and devils, small and big—are compulsive. We obsess. It’s our nature. We turn on a track, around and around; we march in step; we act out the same tales, over and over, the same sets of motions, while time piles up like yarn under a wheel. We like patterns. They’re comforting. Sometimes little things change—a car instead of a house, a girl not named Yelena. But it’s no different, not really. Not ever.”

LittlesDifferentSometimesBigsTurnsGirlHouseStepsCarDevilPatternsTrackTalesDemonWheelsMarchLittle ThingsThings ChangeComfortingTurn-onYarn
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“But the thought arrived inside her like a train: Marya Morevna, all in black, here and now, was a point at which all the women she had been met—the Yaichkan and the Leningrader and the chyerti maiden; the girl who saw the birds, and the girl who never did—the woman she was and the woman she might have been and the woman she would always be, forever intersecting and colliding, a thousand birds falling from a thousand oaks, over and over.”

Has BeensMightFallGirlBlackForeverSawsMetsThousandBirdTrainMight Have BeenHere And NowOaksMaidens
Book:Deathless
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“Oh, I will be cruel to you, Marya Morevna. It will stop your breath, how cruel I can be. But you understand, don’t you? You are clever enough. I am a demanding creature. I am selfish and cruel and extremely unreasonable. But I am your servant. When you starve I will feed you; when you are sick I will tend you. I crawl at your feet; for before your love, your kisses, I am debased. For you alone I will be weak.”

I CanEnoughFeetCreaturesKissingWeakSickBreathsSelfishCleverServantUnreasonableI Am Selfish
Book:Deathless
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“Do you think I am a fool, Masha? All this time, and you speak to me as though I were a flighty pinprick of a girl. I am a magician! Did you never think, even once, that I loved lipstick and rouge for more than their color alone? I am a student of their lore, and it is arcane and hermetic beyond the dreams of alchemists. Did you never wonder why I gave you so many pots, so many creams, so much perfume?”

ThinkingDreamGirlSpeakWonderStudentsColorFoolPotCreamPerfumeMagicianLipstickAlchemistRougeArcane
Book:Deathless
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“Then he is a monster!" the Prince crowed, "and I must slay him at once. The Formula works!" "Your Formula must result in a great deal of fighting," I mused. "Oh, yes, when applied correctly mighty and noble battles result! Of course I always win—the value of Prince X is a constant. It cannot be lesser than that of Monster Y—this is the Moral Superiority Hypothesis made famous five hundred years ago by my ancestor Ethelred, the Mathematician-King. We have never seen his equal, in all these centuries.”

YearsMadeValuesFightingCoursesWinningResultsDealsMoralFiveCenturyKingsBattleEqualHundredYears AgoConstantNobleMonstersFormulasAncestorMathematicianSuperiorityHypothesisMoral SuperiorityI Always Win
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“I am a Prince," he replied, being rather dense. "It is the function of a Prince—value A—to kill monsters—value B—for the purpose of establishing order—value C—and maintaining a steady supply of maidens—value D. If one inserts the derivative of value A (Prince) into the equation y equals BC plus CD squared, and sets it equal to zero, giving the apex of the parabola, namely, the point of intersection between A (Prince) and B (Monster), one determines value E—a stable kingdom. It is all very complicated, and if you have a chart handy I can graph it for you.”

IfsGivingI CanPurposeValuesOrderEqualFunctionDetermineComplicatedMonstersKingdomsPlusZeroSteadyStableEquationsMaintainingCdsDenseMaidensHandyDerivativesIntersectionsInsertApexGraphsParabola
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“A marriage is a private thing. It has its own wild laws, and secret histories, and savage acts, and what passes between married people is incomprehensible to outsiders. We look terrible to you, and severe, and you see our blood flying, but what we carry between us is hard-won, and we made it just as we wished it to be, just the color, just the shape.”

PeopleLooksMadeHardLawSecretBloodColorTerribleShapesMarriedFlyingMade ItOutsidersSavagesSeverePrivate Things
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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