Catherynne M. Valente Quotes
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Remember, pain is not a test. Knowledge is not enough.
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The Marsh King raised himself up and ushered me out the door with the air of a host who has just realized he is one guest away from a comfortable nap.
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She felt as she often did in class when she was nearly sure she had the right answer, but could not always make herself raise her hand.
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When you can change something just by saying a word, that is magic.
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Wouldn't you like to have comrades?' But she would not like that. She wanted only to rest and to read her old, rain-swollen books, turning the pages carefully, so carefully.
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And Miss Oleander Coy had herself a blue mouth. Little stains at the edges of her raspberry lips where she put her pen when she was thinking, which was always.
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Life is like that. Death sweeps it away. That's what death is for. That's why they keep telling this story. It's the only story.
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What matters is entertainment. Eternity takes forever. The infinite expanse of time just does not know when to quit. The dead fear boredom the way mortals fear death.
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I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books?
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It takes energy for new roads to diverge in new woods, and no energy is spent with complete efficiency, without waste. Where wood has burned, there will be ash. The waste product of the constantly dividing multiverse is a fine, drifting mist of regret, and no wormhole has ever starved.
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Whenever one does extraordinary things, someone is bound to try to repeat them for themselves. It's the way of the world.
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I got a heart like a half bottle of no-label whiskey. Nothing to brag on, but enough for you, and all your friends, too.
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You can never forget what you do in a war, September my love. No one can. You won't forget your war either.
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So I talk to the dead. They're the only ones who can see the whole story. All they've got is story.
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I've come to think you only get so much bravery in one lifetime and if you spend it too soon, you're all out of fuck it all to hell by the time you really need it.
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But something older and wiser within her said, Some things are for hiding and for keeping.
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The world had gotten gritty enough. The only thing left to do in all that dirt was to shine.
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Hounds and hearthstones, girl, haven't you ever heard a story about Koschei? He's only got the one. Act one, Scene one: pretty girl. Act one, Scene two: pretty girl gone!
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One is always homesick for places where one came to grief.
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Her father’s shadow looked sadly down at her. “You can never forget what you do in a war, September my love. No one can. You won’t forget your war either.
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You can't trust just any old person who comes along with a hundred puffins and a pretty face!
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I thought that for a long while, but you chose me, and then you chose him, and choosing is hard - one choice is never the end of the story.
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In his own country, Death can be kind.
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Morality is more dependent on the state of one's stomach than of one's nation.