Catherynne M. Valente Quotes - Page 6

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It is true that novelists are shameless and obey no decent law, and they are not to be trusted on any account, but some Mysteries even they must honor.

Catherynne M. Valente

Law, Honor, Novelists

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.205, Macmillan

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I am selfish. I am cruel. My mate cannot be less than I.

Catherynne M. Valente

Selfish, Mates, I Am Selfish

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.162, Macmillan

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Family is a transitive property.

Catherynne M. Valente

Property

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.832, Macmillan

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Things that are unsightly: birthmarks, infidelity, strangers in one's kitchen. Too much sunlight. Stitches. Missing teeth. Overlong guests.

Catherynne M. Valente

Missing, Kitchen, Infidelity

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He missed you like a fish in a bowl misses the open sea.

Catherynne M. Valente

Sea, Missing, Missed You

Catherynne M. Valente (2013). “The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two”, p.141, Feiwel & Friends

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There is no such thing as a people who are all wicked or even all good. Everyone chooses. But even they, even they looked at people and saw only tools. No one is a cup for another to drink from.

Catherynne M. Valente

People, Wicked, Tools

Catherynne M. Valente (2013). “The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two”, p.209, Macmillan

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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.

Catherynne M. Valente

Stars, Children, Firefly

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.176, Feiwel & Friends

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Death hath no dominion.

Catherynne M. Valente

Dominion

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Well, very splendid and very frightening. But splendid things are often frightening. Sometimes, it's the fright that makes them splendid at all.

Catherynne M. Valente

Sometimes, Splendid, Wells

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.58, Macmillan

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A labyrinth, when it is big enough, is just the world.

Catherynne M. Valente

Labyrinth, World, Enough

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.524, Macmillan

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Marya Morevna, we are better at this than you are. We can hold two terrible ideas at once in our hearts. Never have your folk delighted us more, been more like family. For a devil, hypocrisy is a parlour game, like charades. Such fun, and when the evening is done we shall be holding our bellies to keep from dying of laughter.

Catherynne M. Valente

Laughter, Fun, Heart

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You look like a winter night", he had told her when he had given it to her. "I could sleep inside the cold of you".

Catherynne M. Valente

Sleep, Winter, Night

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.200, Macmillan

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Never trust anyone under one hundred!

Catherynne M. Valente

Never Trust, Hundred, Never Trust Anyone

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.198, Macmillan

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I believe we have an utterly unique specimen on our hands: a child who listens.

Catherynne M. Valente

Children, Believe, Unique

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.31, Macmillan

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That’s what a map is, you know. Just a memory.

Catherynne M. Valente

Memories, Maps, Knows

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”, p.169, Macmillan

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I burn, I freeze; I am never warm. I am rigid; I forgot softness because it did not serve me.

Catherynne M. Valente

Warm, Freeze, Softness

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.207, Macmillan

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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.

Catherynne M. Valente

Nice, Home, Wine

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.175, Feiwel & Friends

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Her heart ached as though a knife had quietly slipped between her ribs.

Catherynne M. Valente

Heart, Knives, Ribs

Catherynne M. Valente (2014). “The Fairyland Series”, p.186, Macmillan

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Just remember that the only question in a house is who is to rule. The rest is only dancing around that, trying not to look it in the eye.

Catherynne M. Valente

Eye, Dancing, House

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.58, Macmillan

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Slowly, without taking his eyes from hers, the man in the black coat knelt before her. ”I have come for the girl in the window,” he said, and his eyes filled with tears

Catherynne M. Valente

Girl, Eye, Men

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That's how you get deathless, volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove in the world, until even if you vanished, the tale would keep turning, keep playing, like a phonograph, and you'd have to get up again, even with a bullet through your eye, to play your part and say your lines.

Catherynne M. Valente

Eye, Play, World

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You know how we can be about things which sparkle and shine. We imagine they will put back something of what has been lost.

Catherynne M. Valente

Shining, Sparkle, Imagine

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War is not for winning, Masha," sighed Koschei, reading the tracks of supply lines, of pincer strategies, over her shoulder. "It is for surviving.

Catherynne M. Valente

War, Reading, Winning

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.93, Macmillan

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Then he is a monster!" the Prince crowed, "and I must slay him at once. The Formula works!" "Your Formula must result in a great deal of fighting," I mused. "Oh, yes, when applied correctly mighty and noble battles result! Of course I always win—the value of Prince X is a constant. It cannot be lesser than that of Monster Y—this is the Moral Superiority Hypothesis made famous five hundred years ago by my ancestor Ethelred, the Mathematician-King. We have never seen his equal, in all these centuries.

Catherynne M. Valente

Kings, Fighting, Winning

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The rapt pupil will be forgiven for assuming the Tsar of Death to be wicked and the Tsar of Life to be virtuous. Let the truth be told: There is no virtue anywhere. Life is sly and unscrupulous, a blackguard, wolfish, severe. In service to itself, it will commit any offense. So, too, is Death possessed of infinite strategies and a gaunt nature- but also mercy, also grace and tenderness. In his own country, Death can be kind.

Catherynne M. Valente

Country, Grace, Wicked

Catherynne M. Valente (2011). “Deathless”, p.79, Macmillan

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Born: May 5, 1979
Occupation: Novelist
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