Catherynne M. Valente Quotes - Page 5

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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.

Catherynne M. Valente

Eye, Dark, Long

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.148, Macmillan

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It is harder, usually, to find a person who wants to walk the streets of me, to taste the teas of my country, to... immigrate, you could say.

Catherynne M. Valente

Country, Tea, Want

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If one did not have at least a little luck, one would never survive childhood. But luck can be spent, like money; and lost, like a memory; and wasted, like a life.

Catherynne M. Valente

Memories, Childhood, Luck

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.62, Macmillan

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But if you must be clever, then be clever. Be brave. Sleep with fists closed and shoot straight.

Catherynne M. Valente

Clever, Sleep, Brave

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.59, Macmillan

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I have tried to write stories that go into the underworld of myth and bring out life and fire — where the old world looked at a woman alone and immortal and said: she must long to die, I have tried to say: look at her live!

Catherynne M. Valente

Writing, Fire, Long

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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.

Catherynne M. Valente

Book, Princess, Want

Catherynne M. Valente (2012). “The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There”, p.107, Macmillan

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That's Venus, September thought. She was the goddess of love. It's nice that love comes on first thing in the evening, and goes out last in the morning. Love keeps the light on all night.

Catherynne M. Valente

Morning, Nice, Night

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.314, Macmillan

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We all just keep moving, September. We keep moving until we stop.

Catherynne M. Valente

Moving, September, Keep Moving

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.194, Macmillan

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If I stop, I shall sink and die. That's the way I'm made. I have to keep going always, and even when I get where I'm going, I'll have to keep on. That's living.

Catherynne M. Valente

Way, Made, Dies

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.222, Macmillan

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When little ones say they want to go home, they almost never mean it. They mean they are tired of this particular game and would like to start another.

Catherynne M. Valente

Home, Tired, Mean

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.234, Macmillan

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... but as has been said, September read often, and liked it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armor and rode out with colors flying.

Catherynne M. Valente

Simple, Color, Flying

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.51, Macmillan

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I wonder sometimes what the memory of God looks like. Is it a palace of infinite rooms, a chest of many jeweled objects, a long, lonely landscape where each tree recalls an eon, each pebble the life of a man? Where do I live, in the memory of God?

Catherynne M. Valente

Lonely, Memories, Men

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But this is a story, and in a story there is always someone beautiful enough." - 'The Girl with Two Skins' from A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects

Catherynne M. Valente

Beautiful, Girl, Two

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I do not tolerate a world emptied of you. I have tried. For a year I have called every black tree Marya Morevna; I have looked for your face in the patterns of the ice. In the dark, I have pored over the loss of you like pale gold.

Catherynne M. Valente

Loss, Dark, Years

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.254, Macmillan

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Children make prayers so thoughtlessly, building them up like sand castles—and they are always surprised when suddenly the castle becomes real, and the iron gate grinds shut.

Catherynne M. Valente

Prayer, Children, Real

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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.

Catherynne M. Valente

Strong, Children, Wine

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She liked anything orange: leaves; some moons; marigolds; chrysanthemums; cheese; pumpkin, both in pie and out; orange juice; marmalade. Orange is bright and demanding. You can't ignore orange things. She once saw an orange parrot in the pet store and had never wanted anything so much in her life. She would have named it Halloween and fed it butterscotch. Her mother said butterscotch would make a bird sick and, besides, the dog would certainly eat it up. September never spoke to the dog again — on principle.

Catherynne M. Valente

Mother, Dog, Halloween

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.16, Macmillan

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In both marriage and war you must cut up the things people say like a cake and eat only what you can stomach.

Catherynne M. Valente

War, Cutting, Cake

Catherynne M. Valente (2012). “Deathless”, p.139, Hachette UK

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Snow is the beginning and the end of everything.

Catherynne M. Valente

Snow, Ends, Living Happily

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.191, Macmillan

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Someone ought to write a novel about me.

Catherynne M. Valente

Writing, Novel, Ought

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.102, Macmillan

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September could see it. She did not know what is was she saw. That is the disadvantage of being a heroine, rather than a narrator. She knew only that a red light glowed and went dark, glowed and went dark.

Catherynne M. Valente

Dark, Light, Narrators

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.210, Macmillan

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What is the world but a boxing ring where fools and devils put up their fists?

Catherynne M. Valente

Boxing, Devil, World

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.272, Macmillan

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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.

Catherynne M. Valente

Strong, Kings, Father

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Death is not a checkmate…it is more like a carnival trick. You cannot win, no matter how you move your Queen.

Catherynne M. Valente

Queens, Moving, Winning

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.174, Macmillan

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She was not filled up with the sight of him, the way she had seen her sisters fill up, like silk balloons, like wineskins. Instead, he seemed to land heavily within her, like a black stone falling.

Catherynne M. Valente

Fall, Sight, Filled Up

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.56, Macmillan

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Born: May 5, 1979
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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