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Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

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“Do you know, we're right underneath Springtime Parish? This place is the opposite of springtime. Everything past prime, boarded up for the season. Just above us, the light shines golden on daffodils full of rainwine and heartgrass and a terrible, wicked, sad girl I can't get back to. I don't even know if I want to. Do I want to be her again? Or do I want to be free? I come here to think about that. To be near her and consider it. I think I shall never be free. I think I traded my freedom for a better story. It was a better story, even if the ending needed work.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWantI CanStoriesLightPastGirlNeededTerribleOppositesSeasonsShiningGoldenWickedGet BackPrimeDo You KnowSpringtimeParishDaffodil
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Here! 'Not thread nor glue, not nails nor screws, will ever self and shadow wed.' Helpful, those poet-types. Perhaps this one: 'Seek the grimy queen of dread machines, if you your errant shadow miss.' Now that's quite good! As a Prophetic Utterance, Third Class (Vague Hints and Mysterious Signs), you couldn't ask for better. It's downright plain-spoken!”

IfsSelfAsksClassMissingPoetTypeShadowMachinesThirdsMysteriousQueensHelpfulDreadThreadNailsVagueScrewsHintsGlueUtteranceProphetic
Book:The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
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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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“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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“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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“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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“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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“I will never be without information,' she determined. 'I will do better than my sisters. If a bird or any other beast comes out of that uncanny republic where husbands are grown, I will see him with his skin off before I agree to fall in love.' For this is how Marya Morevna surmised that love was shaped: an agreement, a treaty between two nations that one could either sign or not as they pleased.”

IfsTwoFallNationsInformationHusbandBirdSkinsAgreeFalling In LoveDeterminedBeastAgreementRepublicMy SisterTreatiesUncannyTwo Nations
Book:Deathless
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“Oh, September! It is so soon for you to lose your friends to good work and strange loves and high ambitions. The sadness of that is too grown-up for you. Like whiskey and voting, it is a dangerous and heady business, as heavy as years. If I could keep your little tribe together forever, I would. I do so want to be generous. But some stories sprout bright vines that tendril off beyond our sight, carrying the folk we love best with them, and if I knew how to accept that with grace, I would share the secret.”

IfsWantYearsLittlesStoriesTogetherLosesSecretAcceptingForeverGraceSadnessShareDangerousStrangeAmbitionSightFolksHeavyGenerousIf I CouldVotingGood WorkSeptemberTribesWhiskeyVinesSproutsTogether ForeverHigh Ambition
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“It's saying no. That's your first hint that something's alive. It says no. That's how you know a baby is starting to turn into a person. They run around saying no all day, throwing their aliveness at everything to see what it'll stick to. You can't say no if you don't have desires and opinions and wants of your own. You wouldn't even want to. No is the heart of thinking.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWantFirstsHeartPersonsRunningDesireTurnsOpinionAliveBabySticksStartingThrowingHintsSaying No
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Astolaine Bombast, catalogue woman, ordered up like a rare steak, 'plees make shore she is pritty and a whyt gurl if you have enny'.Well, she's pritty enough for homesteading but takes no ribbons at the fair. After three dead babies that fellow wanted his money back, pack her up in a box and ship her east to the wife factory.”

IfsWellsEnoughWantedThreeWifeBabyFairsFellowsBoxesEastShipsShoreFactoriesPacksSteakRibbonsCataloguesHomesteadingDead Baby
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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