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Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

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“Most of them... most of us never figure it out. Bad dream, they think, or good one. Funny rash, never really goes away, but Doc says it's fine, nothing to worry about. Why dwell on it? But some people, they just can't let it go... Some people drink themselves out of school trying to find it again, trolling through bars where the shadows are so greasy they leave trails on the walls, just to find a way in, a way through. Some people forget too that you're supposed to stop sleeping, you're supposed to have a life in the sun.”

PeopleThinkingWayTryingDreamSchoolSleepForgetWorrySunFiguresWallFineDrinkShadowBarsTrailsLet It GoBad Dream
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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“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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“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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“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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“You and I, being grown-up and having lost our hearts at least twice or thrice along the way, might shut our eyes and cry out: Not that way, child! But as we have said, September was Somewhat Heartless, and felt herself reasonably safe on that road. Children always do.”

WayHeartChildrenSaidMightEyeLostFeltCrySafeSeptemberHeartlessThrice
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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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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“The goblins of the city may hold committees to divide a single potato, but the strong and the cruel still sit on the hill, and drink vodka, and wear black furs, and slurp borscht by the pail, like blood. Children may wear through their socks marching in righteous parades, but Papa never misses his wine with supper. Therefore, it is better to be strong and cruel than to be fair. At least, one eats better that way. And morality is more dependent on the state of one’s stomach than of one’s nation.”

WayMayChildrenStillsStatesStrongNationsBlackCitiesBloodMissingMoralityDrinkFairsWineHillsDependentStomachDividesRighteousCommitteesPotatoesSockFurParadesSupperVodkaPapaGoblinBorscht
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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