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Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

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Famous Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

“It's only that the answers in most stories are boring because they are supplied by the real world rather than, well, something better. Something more stimulating. Sit down with the Greeks and the Romans, and the boring answers get more interesting. Seasons because a girl and a crocus. Death because a girl and an apple. The moon because a girl keeps driving her daft chariot into the sea. It's all down to girls, one way or another.”

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Book:Radiance
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“You’re in a story and the body writing it is an asshole. You had to know that, given the action. The story you’re in tells you like firing a gun…[I] had enough of it, of things happening one after another and no end in sight. Of reversals and falling in love and tragic flaws and by God if I see another motif in my business I will shoot it dead.”

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Book:Six-Gun Snow White
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“How dare they speak so unkindly of stories? Stories never did anything to them! Stories are only here to love you and look after you and show you a good time… Stories don’t even ask anything in return but not to have grape juice spilled on them, and, every once in a while, to be thought of fondly, years and years after you shut their covers.”

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Book:Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods
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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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“Fairy tales have always been about getting through the worst of everything, the darkest and the deepest and the bloodiest of events. They are about surviving, and what you look like when you emerge from the trial. The reason we keep telling fairy tales over and over, that we need to keep telling them, is that the trials change. So the stories change too, and the heroines and villains and magical objects, to keep them true. Fairy tales are the closets where the world keeps its skeletons.”

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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.”

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Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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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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“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 don’t want to be a Princess,” she said finally. “You can’t make me be one.” She knew very well what became of Princesses, as Princesses often get books written about them. Either terrible things happened to them, such as kidnappings and curses and pricking fingers and getting poisoned and locked up in towers, or else they just waited around till the Prince finished with the story and got around to marrying her. Either way, September wanted nothing to do with Princessing.”

WayWantWellsSaidBookStoriesWantedWrittenHappenedTerribleFingersFinishedCursePrincessLockedTowersSeptemberTerrible ThingsMarryingLocked UpKidnappingMarrying Her
Book:The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
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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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