Catherynne M. Valente Quotes


So most people go around with grimy machinery when all it would take is a bit of spit and polish to make them paladins once more bold knights and true. Catherynne M. Valente Courage 92
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 Writers 91
I know you loved both he and I the way a mother can love two sons. And no one should be judged for loving more than they ought only for loving not enough. Catherynne M. Valente Forgiveness 83
You are going to break your promise. I understand. And I hold my hands over the ears of my heart so that I will not hate you. Catherynne M. Valente Betrayal 79
Children make prayers so thoughtlessly building them up like sand castlesand they are always surprised when suddenly the castle becomes real and the iron gate grinds shut. Catherynne M. Valente Children 76
Stories the greeneyed Sigrid said unperturbed are like prayers. It does not matter when you begin or when you end only that you bend a knee and say the words. Catherynne M. Valente Storytelling 72
Do not ruin today with mourning tomorrow. Catherynne M. Valente Mindfulness 70
Hearts set about finding other hearts the moment they are born and between them they weave nets so frightfully strong and tight that you end up bound forever in hopeless knots even to the shadow of a beast you knew and loved long ago. Catherynne M. Valente Relationships 66
Someone ought to write a novel about me said Lebedeva loftily. I shouldnt care if they lied to make it more interesting as long as they were good lies full of kisses and daring escapes and the occasional act of barbarism. I cant abide a poor liar. Catherynne M. Valente Novels 64
We like the wrong sorts of girls they wrote. They are usually the ones worth writing about. Catherynne M. Valente Woman 64
The great blessing and great cruelty of youth is that there seems to be time enough. Catherynne M. Valente Youth 63
How I adore you Marya. How well I chose. Scold me deny me. Tell me you want what you want and damn me forever. But dont leave me. Catherynne M. Valente Devotion 59
It appeals to the higher nature of the self to put aside food which once lived I do not consider myself food why should I ask all other creatures to consider themselves so Catherynne M. Valente Food 49
Never put your faith in a Prince. When you require a miracle trust in a Witch. Catherynne M. Valente Witches 48
... relationships required such vigilance such attention. You had to hold them together by force of will and other people took up so much space demanded so much time. It was exhausting. Catherynne M. Valente Relationship 47
Are you the only human in the world then And all of the rest of us monsters Catherynne M. Valente Monsters 46
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 Survival 46
When the world changes it stashes us away where we cant make it run the other way again. Catherynne M. Valente World 45
She knew herself how she had slowly over years become a cat a wolf a snake anything but a girl. How she had wrung out her girlhood like death. Catherynne M. Valente Feminism 43
We all live inside the terrible engine of authority and it grinds and shrieks and burns so that no one will say lines on maps are silly. Catherynne M. Valente Authority 40
I have all the books I need and what more could I need than books I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin. Catherynne M. Valente Economics 40
Im not a Knight. Im a Bishop. Or at least I am trying to be. And traveling with you is the most slantwise backward thing I can possibly think of which in this place probably means its the right thing to do. Catherynne M. Valente Enemies 38
Just tell yourself a story thatll satisfy you and pretend he told it. Catherynne M. Valente Ignorance 37
September had never been betrayed before. She did not even know what to call the feeling in her chest so bitter and sour. Poor child. There is always a first time and it is never the last time. Catherynne M. Valente Betrayal 37
I have all the books I could need and what more could I need than books Catherynne M. Valente Reading 36
At the snowy summit of all these things however is the fact that you simply cannot go about locking your siblings in towers when they misbehave. It is unseemly and betrays a sad lack of creativity. Catherynne M. Valente Punishment 36
It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else. Catherynne M. Valente Heart 36
She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries which are the best sorts of people. Catherynne M. Valente Libraries 35
Truly Mallow yearned to know everything. Curiosity was part of her like her short blond hair and bitten fingernails. Catherynne M. Valente Curiosity 35
Woman Come out I have She looked down at the bloodless grass embarrassed. I have come to rescue you she finally said as if admitting that she were covered in boils. Catherynne M. Valente Witches 35
Funny how question contains the word quest inside it as though any small question asked is a journey through briars. Catherynne M. Valente Journey 34
But luck withered by conservative tired riskless living can be plumped up againafter all it was only a bit thirsty for something to do. Catherynne M. Valente Luck 34
...the villagers had decided that practical meant extremely magical and full of interesting objects and had officially subtitled themselves Winesap A Pracktical Towne. Catherynne M. Valente Ignorance 32
All things are strange which are worth knowing. Catherynne M. Valente Strange 32
When one is traveling everything looks brighter and lovelier. That does not mean it IS brighter and lovelier it just means that sweet kindly home suffers in comparison to tartedup foreign places with all their jewels on. Catherynne M. Valente Travel 31
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 Lovers 31
Her fathers shadow looked sadly down at her. You can never forget what you do in a war September my love. No one can. You wont forget your war either. Catherynne M. Valente War 31
Thats Venus September thought. She was the goddess of love. Its 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 Night 31
Humanity lived many years and ruled the earth sometimes wisely sometimes well but mostly neither. Catherynne M. Valente Government 29
Children are natural practitioners of the Queer and the Questing for childhood is nothing but a quest through a queer country. Of course they often have a good deal of trouble with the Quiet. Catherynne M. Valente Children 29
Truly Autumn is my season the scarlet beast chorted. Spring and Summer and Winter all begin with such late letters But Autumn and Fall I have loved best because they are best to love. Catherynne M. Valente Autumn 28
No not like this when I have not seen you without your skin on when I know nothing when I am not safe. Not you whose name all my nightmares know. Catherynne M. Valente Trust 28
Temptation likes best those who think they have a natural immunity for it may laugh all the harder when they succumb. Catherynne M. Valente Temptation 27
Yes Marya thought the smell of woodsmoke and old snow pushing back her long black hair. Magic does that. It wastes you away. Once it grips you by the ear the real world gets quieter and quieter until you can hardly hear it at all. Catherynne M. Valente Magic 26
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 Memory 24
The burntoff connectors and shadows where Ravan once filled my spaces those I think are the sensations of grief. Catherynne M. Valente Emotion 23

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