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Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

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Famous Catherynne M. Valente Quotes

“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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“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.”

WorldNeedsLooksReasonStoriesWorstEventsObjectsTrialsTalesFairyVillainFairy TaleClosetsSurvivingHeroinesSkeletons
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“I reminded myself: when a book lies unopened it might contain anything in the world, anything imaginable. It therefore, in that pregnant moment before opening, contains everything. Every possibility, both perfect and putrid. Surely such mysteries are the most enticing things You grant us in this mortal mere -- the fruit in the garden, too, was like this. Unknown, and therefore infinite. Eve and her mate swallowed eternity, every possible thing, and made the world between them.”

WorldMadeBookMomentsMightLyingPerfectMysteryPossibilityGardenEternityInfiniteMereFruitOpeningMortalsGrantsMatesPregnantEnticing
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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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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“Once more September marveled that even the Dodo knew what she wanted to be when she was grown. She simply could not think what she herself might do. September expected that destinies, which is how she thought of professions, simply landed upon one like a crown, and ever after no one questioned or fretted over it, being sure of one’s own use in the world. It was only that somehow her crown had not yet appeared. She did hope it would hurry up.”

ThinkingWorldUseMightWantedDestinyProfessionExpectedOver ItCrownsSeptemberEver After
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“For there are two kinds of forgiveness in the world: the one you practice because everything really is all right, and what went before is mended. The other kind of forgiveness you practice because someone needs desperately to be forgiven, or because you need just as badly to forgive them, for a heart can grab hold of old wounds and go sour as milk over them.”

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Book:The Fairyland Series
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“When I say forever,' Koschei whispered, 'I mean until the black death of the world. An Ivan means just the present moment, the flickering light of it, in a green field, his mouth on yours. He means the stretching of that moment. But forever isn't bright; it isn't like that. Forever is cold and hard and final.”

WorldMeanHardMomentsLightBlackForeverFieldsColdMouthsGreenFinalsPresent MomentThat MomentStretchingGreen FieldsBlack DeathFlickering Light
Book:Deathless
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“This is what it means to be a woman in this world. Every step is a bargain with pain. Make your black deals in the black wood and decide what you’ll trade for power. For the opposite of weakness, which is not strength but hardness. I am a trap, but so is everything. Pick your price. I am a huckster with a hand in your pocket. I am freedom and I will eat your heart.”

WorldHeartMeanHandsPainBlackDealsStepsThis WorldPicksWeaknessOppositesTradeWoodsPocketsTrapsBargainsEvery StepHardnessEat Your Heart
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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