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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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“Autumn is the very soul of metamorphosis, a time when the world is poised at the door of winter - which is the door of death - but has not yet fallen. It is a world of contradictions: a time of harvest and plenty but also of cold and hardship. Here we dwell in the midst of life, but we know most keenly that all things must pass away and shrivel. Autumn turns the world from one thing into another. The year is seasoned and wise but not yet decrepit or senile.”

KnowsWorldYearsSoulTurnsWiseDoorsOne ThingColdAll ThingsWinterPlentyFallenContradictionAutumnMidstHardshipHarvestPassing AwayMetamorphosisDecrepitSenileAll Things Must Pass
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“I did not set out to be beloved and just, only strong." 'A King can be better than that," the Prince insisted. "And so we all begin, determined to better our fathers' performances, knowing we can change the very nature of humanity, make it better, cleaner. But then daggers strike in the night, and peasants revolt, and all manner of atrocities become a necessity as breakfast. Only Princes believe in the greater good. Kings know there is only Reign, and all things may be committed in its holy name.”

KnowsBelieveMayNightHumanityFatherNamesStrongKnowingGreaterKingsHolyAll ThingsPerformancesCommittedDeterminedStrikesBelovedBreakfastReignOur FatherPeasantsRevoltAtrocitiesCleanersGreater GoodDaggersGood Kings
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Living alone,' November whispered, 'is a skill, like running long distance or programming old computers. You have to know parameters, protocols. You have to learn them so well that they become like a language: to have music always so that the silence doesn't overwhelm you, to perform your work exquisitely well so that your time is filled. You have to allow yourself to open up until you are the exact size of the place you live, no more or else you get restless. No less, or else you drown. There are rules; there are ways of being and not being.”

KnowsWayWellsLongRunningLanguageSilenceSkillsComputerFilledDistanceSizeProgrammingRestlessNovemberLong DistanceParametersProtocolLiving AlonePlaces You Live
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“Marya Morevna! Don't you know anything? Girls must be very, very careful to care only for ribbons and magazines and wedding rings. They must sweep their hearts clean of anything but kisses and theater and dancing. They must never read Pushkin; they must never say clever things; they must never have sly eyes or wear their hair loose and wander around barefoot, or they will draw his attention!”

KnowsHeartEyeCareGirlAttentionHairKissingDrawsTheaterDancingCleanCarefulRingsCleverMagazinesWanderRibbonsSlyBarefootWedding RingPushkin
Book:Deathless
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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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“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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“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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“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'm sure you've heard people talk about their Heart's Desire—well that's a load of rot. Hearts are idiots. They're big and squishy and full of daft dreams. They flounce off to write poetry and moon at folk who aren't worth the mooning. Bones are the ones that have to make the journey, fight the monster, kneel before whomever is big on kneeling these days. Bones do the work for the heart's grand plans. Bones know what you need. Hearts only know want.”

PeopleKnowsWantNeedsWritingWellsHeartDreamBigsDesireFightingPlansHeardJourneyMoonFolksBonesMonstersIdiotThese DaysLoadKneelingDaft
Book:The Fairyland Series
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“You know, in Fairyland-Above they said that the underworld was full of devils and dragons. But it isn’t so at all! Folk are just folk, wherever you go, and it’s only a nasty sort of person who thinks a body’s a devil just because they come from another country and have different notions. It’s wild and quick and bold down here, but I like wild things and quick things and bold things, too.”

ThinkingKnowsPersonsSaidDifferentCountryBodyDevilNotionFolksDragonsNastyThey SaidUnderworldWild Things
Book:The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
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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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