Why do you need that thing?" September asked. "None of the airports back home have them." "They do. You just can't see them right," Betsy Basilstalk said with a grin. "All customs agents have them, otherwise, why would people agree to stand in line and be peered at and inspected? 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. Where you live, the awful machinery is smaller, harder to see. Less honest, that's all. Whereas Rupert here? He's as honest as they come. Does what it says on the box.
Catherynne M. Valente
Related We all live inside the terrible engine of authority, and it grinds and shrieks and burns so that no ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES The reason people are so moved by art and why artists tend to take it all so seriously is that if th... PETER HELLER Dad?" Jesus said. "Yes son. What is it?" God replied. "Why have you left the stars turned ... ANTHONY T. HINCKS People always ask me "Son what does it take To reach out and touch your dreams?" To t... TIM MCGRAW Dad?" Jesus asked. "Yes, son?" God asked. "Why do people get sick?" Jesus asked. "Whe... ANTHONY T. HINCKS There's terrible evil in the world." It comes from men," said Holly. "All other elil do w... RICHARD ADAMS Bullies do not just wake up and decide to be one. They are people who have or are experiencing emoti... KEMI SOGUNLE It surprised me to see them leave to do migrant work, knowing that we did all that, trying to get aw... BEN MARTINEZ Can I just point something out?" Fletcher asked. "That is an awful plan. On a scale of one ... DEREK LANDY To be honest I live among the English and have always found them to be very honest in their business... FIONA SHAW Why would she want to come back here and live?' I wondered. 'Doesn't seem like she'd want to.' ... TAWNI O'DELL 28. Feelings are neither right nor wrong. It's what you do with them that causes the problems. JAMES C. DOBSON I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do a... J.R.R. TOLKIEN Entry: Barbary Vikings Where horned Helmets and fur Cloaks; otherwise you could misstake them f... DIANA WYNNE JONES Can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?" Harry shook his head. "Let me expl... J.K. ROWLING Out of all these great events around here, none are dog-friendly. What we do in our free time for no... ERIK SKARVAN people say give up, move on but why ? They don't see you the way that I see you. They don't look int... RANA MAGDY What on earth have you packed in here? Bricks?" asked Mo as he carried Meggie's book-box out of the ... CORNELIA FUNKE Do it. Before they send those mutts back or something. I don't want to die like Cato," he says. SUZANNE COLLINS So why are you here?" He lifted his hands and made as if to lay them on her arms, but just befo... APRILYNNE PIKE You love your work. God help you, you love it! And thats the curse. That's the brand on your forehea... AYN RAND Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come ba... WALTER E. DISNEY You will have the ability to see other people accurately as divine, amazing, irreplaceable, human be... KIMBERLY GILES i will tell you about selfish people. even when they know they will hurt you they walk into your lif... RUPI KAUR I lied," I said. ... "I know it," he said. "Then do something about it. Do anything, just ... WILLIAM FAULKNER And all are asleep,so all are foolish. Don't feel offended. Thefacts have to be stated as they are.Y... OSHO we in the civil rights community need to hold the senators accountable, all the senators, for their ... STEPHANIE JONES Why do they blame me for all their little failings? They use my name as if I spent my entire days si... NEIL GAIMAN … and that’s why they leave, isn’t it? Because they have to see themselves in the context of s... KAMILA SHAMSIE Players are people who feed upon the ego you build for them putting them on a pedestal that they are... MARLAN RICO LEE [Roberts says he would recommend video acting to any celebrity, as long as they understand it's not ... ERIC ROBERTS Very few people run around and get amnesia and have comas and come out of them and do all the silly ... ERIKA SLEZAK ...deeds are done which appear so evil to us and people suffer such terrible evils that it does not ... JULIAN OF NORWICH On a Chinese film you just give orders, no one questions you. Here, you have to convince people, you... ANG LEE I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray... L. FRANK BAUM Under the school policy, they would be able to come back to school. They have to reapply. All of the... JAN MCDONALD Everybody has that thing where they need to look one way but they come out looking another way and t... DIANE ARBUS I think sometimes there is no right thing. ROSAMUND HODGE I am a predatory striker, ... That is why people say they would have liked to see us playing togethe... IAN WRIGHT With a hologram, like when your teacher is one of them, if you aren’t looking right at them, they ... M.T. ANDERSON Why do they have to move in packs?" Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls walked past them, snigger... J.K. ROWLING A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years, but ... ALBERT EINSTEIN how far have you walked for men who’ve never held your feet in their laps? how often have you... WARSAN SHIRE I've been clinically diagnosed with sociopathy,' I said. 'Do you know what that means?' 'It mea... DAN WELLS Intriguing isn't it? One day you are the king of your world. And the next day, you stand aside, watc... ALEENA YASIN Thing is," Grial said in a conspiratorial voice, "let me tell you a little secret, girlie. That road... VERA NAZARIAN Take lightly what you hear about individuals. We need not distort trust for our paltry little politi... CRISS JAMI Rose's work of art took her all day, including two playtimes, story time, and most of lunch. At... HILARY MCKAY Would to God we were all Christians who profess to be Christians, and that we lived up to what we pr... CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON Value your parabatai," he said. "For it is a precious bond. All love is precious. It is why we do wh... CASSANDRA CLARE There are persons who cannot make friends. Who are they? Those who cannot be friends. It is not the ... WILLIAM HAZLITT I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographi... MARY ELLEN MARK I figured out that I'm better off not explaining how and why I do the things that I do. If people ca... VIRGIL KALYANA MITTATA IORDACHE – and pompous fools drive me up the wall. Ordinary fools are alright; you can talk to them and try... RICHARD FEYNMAN They are always the problem. There is no evil in this world you cannot blame on them. The world will... JAMES ROZOFF Sometimes it's hard because I don't like to hurt people's feelings. So there have been times when a ... ELLEN DEGENERES Sister, why do you do that?" "Do what?" "Cage the animals at night?" "Well..." She lo... JENNINGS MICHAEL BURCH And Olvos said to them: “Why have you done this, my children? Why is the sky wreathed with smok... ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT Thus Epicurus also, when he designs to destroy the natural fellowship of mankind, at the same time m... EPICTETUS Dad?" Jesus asked. "Yes son?" God replied. "Why does man have so many religions?" Jesus as... ANTHONY T. HINCKS Have we forgotten how to communicate? If you have someones number, why do you write them on FB to as... NERISSA IRVING I hate you for all the years I 'll have to live without you. How can a heart hurt this much and stil... LISA KLEYPAS Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether pe... ELEANOR ROOSEVELT You are not wrong," Laurence said. He had assumed as much himself, after all, in his Navy days: had ... NAOMI NOVIK While walking in a toy store The day before today, I overheard a Crayon Box With many thin... ANON. Tortolita, let me tell you a story,” Estevan said. “This is a South American, wild Indian story ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The reason you have to do this is you have to let them know that you're real, ... I had one guy say,... JAMIE FOXX I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them ... MARY ELLEN MARK Yeah, I will. Why do you care so much all of a sudden?” Cade shrugged. “I don’t have... MAISEY YATES No one to blame! That was why most people led lives they hated, with people they hated. How wonderfu... ERICA JONG it will make sense the moment you come Home. I could see it all so clearly. I could see what it is t... KATE MCGAHAN You have no idea what it is like to constantly disappoint people. You see it the moment you meet the... CHUCK PALAHNIUK I just think it's silly to be stingy with compliments. If you see someone and they strike you as... JILL SCOTT This is expected to be one of the worse hurricane seasons, and so far they're right and we're only h... HANS OLSEN If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them – peer into them... WINSTON S. CHURCHILL The hardest thing is at the end you have to say bye to all these people who you have worked with for... DAKOTA FANNING I can guarantee it, " Jenks said as their eyes met. The second that you see her, you will fall in lo... KIM HARRISON Why do they have to move in packs?” Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls walked past them, snigg... J.K. ROWLING I cant take it like this much longer, Milt," Karen said muffledly into the big CKC shirt with its ma... JAMES JONES If you were an atheist, Birbal," the Emperor challenged his first minister, "what would you say to t... SALMAN RUSHDIE Maybe this is kind of cliche, but animals, well, dogs, are what I do for a living. One reason I like... MERRILL MARKOE If public figures came out of the closet, then the LGBT kids who saw them on TV would feel safe befo... MARGARET CHO ...‘All this suffering,’ I said, ‘and nothing but greed and violence to build on when the war ... JOYCE DENNYS When God created the first human beings, God led them around the garden of Eden and said: Look at my... R. KOHELET People who do not have funny in them are not funny when they read funny lines. Sorry. Just doesn'... DAVID DOBKIN Everybody has that thing where they need to look one way but they come out looking another way and... DIANE ARBUS She didn't understand that. "How can anyone be afraid of love?" "How can they not?" His face wa... SHERRILYN KENYON But what would have been the good?" Aslan said nothing. "You mean," said Lucy rather fai... C.S. LEWIS When you see them laying there, it's more along the lines that they're asleep and all you have to is... TERRELL NELEMS The maid told him that a girl and a child had come looking for him, but since she didn't know them, ... GEORGE SAND The "you only live once" theory: Many people say that they do not believe in reincarnation; they bel... MICHAEL SMITH He's a winner. In talking to guys who have been with the Dodgers, they would say they enjoyed having... CRAIG WILSON Now, for example, people with freckles aren’t thought of as a minority by the nonfreckled. They ar... CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do a... J.R.R. TOLKIEN When I hear so much impatient and irritable complaint, so much readiness to replace what we have by ... JUDGE LEARNED HAND Live in the moment, just do it - those are phrases thrown around by people who don't know what they ... GREGORY GALLOWAY When videotape came so a lot of movies that I do have a kind of afterlife in video. Things where mov... CHRISTOPHER WALKEN To forgive someone is all good but if you do that to certain people they just keep doing the same th... GARY F EVANS... And what, incidentally, do you think integrity is? The ability not to pick a watch out of your neigh... AYN RAND
More Catherynne M. Valente
For though, as we have said, all children are heartless, this is not precisely true of teenagers. Te... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE This is what comes of having a heart, even a very small and young one. It causes no end of trouble, ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Hearts set about finding other hearts the moment they are born, and between them, they weave nets so... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE And the funny, impish magic of a wrap party is that everyone still has scraps of their characters ha... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It's just that in detective stories, women are usually dead before the curtain goes up. In fairy tal... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE And if they thought her aimless, if they thought her a bit mad, let them. It meant they left her alo... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Never put your faith in a Prince. When you require a miracle, trust in a Witch. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Some girls have to go to college to discover what they are good at; some are born doing what they mu... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We treat our stone wives with much more care than they treat their warm ones, anyway. I personally d... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Someone ought to write a novel about me,” said Lebedeva loftily. “I shouldn’t care if they lie... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I know you loved both he and I, the way a mother can love two sons. And no one should be judged for ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You gotta be nice to strangers even when they are the worst, because they don't know you well enough... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You are going to break your promise. I understand. And I hold my hands over the ears of my heart, so... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Wishes of one's old life wither and shrivel like old leaves if they are not replaced with new wishes... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE This is what it means to be a woman in this world. Every step is a bargain with pain. Make your blac... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE The goblins of the city may hold committees to divide a single potato, but the strong and the cruel ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE At the snowy summit of all these things, however, is the fact that you simply cannot go about lockin... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut, just that fast. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE A Wyvern’s body is different from the body of a young girl in several major respects. First, it ha... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE No matter what you write, you actually can't help retelling a fairy tale somewhere along the way... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE The storm ate up September’s cry of despair, delighted at its mischief, as all storms are. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE No one knows themselves very well. Who has the time these days? Have you been formally introduced to... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Even if you’ve taken off every stitch of clothing, you still have your secrets, your history, your... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Your past's a private matter, sweetheart. You just keep it locked up in xbox where it can't hurt any... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I’ve a devil of a habit for being right. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE But the thought arrived inside her like a train: Marya Morevna, all in black, here and now, was a po... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Blue is for cruel bargains; green is for daring what you oughtn’t; violet is for brute force. I wi... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Marya Morevna! Don't you know anything? Girls must be very, very careful to care only for ribbons an... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You humans, you know, whoever built you sewed irony into your sinews. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Lebedeva’s eyes shone. “Masha, listen to me. Cosmetics are an extension of the will. Why do you ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We are halves, but we make an infinite whole. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I’m a monster,” said the shadow of the Marquess suddenly. “Everyone says so.” Th... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE 1. Santa Claus is real. However, your parents are folkloric constructs meant to protect and foritfy ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We all live inside the terrible engine of authority, and it grinds and shrieks and burns so that no ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You can't have whatever you want. But to a child who must ask permission for every single thing,... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE How we would like to argue with September, and tell her that in the waiting lies the pleasure! That ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Humans do not proceed in an orderly fashion from one scene to the next. Memory lies underneath happe... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE To touch a person...to sleep with a person...is to become a pioneer," she whispered then, "a frontie... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I'm not lost, because I haven't any idea where to go that I might get lost on the way to. I'd lik... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency an... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Children make prayers so thoughtlessly, building them up like sand castles—and they are always sur... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It seems like every few years a big name author will holler something about how evil, heinous, and m... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Many people in this room have an Etsy store where they create unique, unreplicable artifacts or usef... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE ...while epic fantasy is based on the fairy tale of the just war, that’s not one you’ll find in ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Because I’m a cat. A big one, the Panther of Rough Storms, in fact. But still a cat. If there’s ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE The sun hitched up her trousers and soldiered on up into the sky. September squinted at it and wonde... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE But this is a story, and in a story there is always someone beautiful enough." <... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We love WWII because the cause was so obviously just, because you can't be a good person and say you... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE They want only their private toys and candies, and will not share. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Do you know what a thirteen-year-old girl can do when she is alone and frightened and believes she i... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I have made calculations that would beggar your soul. What is it that villains always say at the end... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE If you are a monster, stand up. If you are a monster, a trickster, a fiend, If you’ve bu... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Because she did not look behind, September did not see the smoky-glass casket close itself primly up... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Metamorphosis is the most profound of all acts. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE 8. Santa Claus is concerned about the problem of Arctic ice. The ice is the spouse of the elves, and... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We like the wrong sorts of girls, they wrote. They are usually the ones worth writing about. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Shall I tell her? Shall I be a kind and merciful narrator and take our girl aside? Shall I touch her... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE A heart can learn ever so many tricks, and what sort of beast it becomes depends greatly upon whethe... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE But the trick most folk are so awfully fond of learning, the absolute second they've got hold of a h... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I am certainly intrepid and splendid and sordid and strong; I can see why you'd want me! But I'm afr... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You only had to choose which me to talk to, for, you know, we all change our manners, depending on w... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Her heart was bruised by the kiss, smashed and surprised and unsettled by it. September thought kiss... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She felt as she often did in class when she was nearly sure she had the right answer, but could not ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE One: A Library Is the Size of the Universe and the Universe Is the Size of a Library. Two: Everyone ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Children are natural practitioners of the Queer and the Questing, for childhood is nothing but a que... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I'm sure you've heard people talk about their Heart's Desire—well that's a load of rot. Hearts are... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You cannot escape where you come from, September. Some part of it remains inside you always, like th... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE September did not want to feel for the Marquess. That’s how villains get you, she knew. You feel b... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Do you suppose you will look the same when you are an old woman as you do now? Most folk have three ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE And then she felt her Ell’s great strong presence beside her, and Saturday slipped his hand in her... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Oh, September! It is so soon for you to lose your friends to good work and strange loves and high am... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I have missed you so much I could kiss you,” he whispered. September’s face fell. “... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You know, in Fairyland-Above they said that the underworld was full of devils and dragons. But it is... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She must protect herself. There would be no one to do it for her. A plan started to prick up its ear... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE A labyrinth, when it is big enough, is just the world. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE The smell of loving is a difficult one to describe, but if you think of the times when someone has h... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Cats don’t have dark sides. That’s all a shadow is—and though you might be prejudiced against ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Shows what you know, sunny-girl! I’m sure you’ve heard people talk about their Heart’s Desire�... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE That's Venus, September thought. She was the goddess of love. It's nice that love comes on first thi... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE September had never been betrayed before. She did not even know what to call the feeling in her ches... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I don’t want to be a Princess,” she said finally. “You can’t make me be one.” She knew ver... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE A library is never complete. That’s the joy of it. We are always seeking one more book to add to o... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She did not know yet how sometimes people keep parts of themselves hidden and secret, sometimes wick... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE For there are two kinds of forgiveness in the world: the one you practice because everything really ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE A book is a door, you know. Always and forever. A book is a door into another place and another hear... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Just tell yourself a story that'll satisfy you and pretend he told it. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE The keeping of lists was for November an exercise kin to repeating of a rosary. She considered it ne... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Do not ruin today with mourning tomorrow. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Who told you you couldn't come back when you're grown? Was it the same person who told you grown-ups... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I wonder sometimes what the memory of God looks like. Is it a palace of infinite rooms, a chest of m... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE That's how you get deathless, volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove i... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Thieves are not so bad, and killing wears all possible costumes. There is no death, no murder that i... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE No good thing can last forever, because people are terrible and we have this feeling, we all have th... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Even if you hadn't entirely deposed (and possibly killed) not one but two governments and d... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Woman! Come out! I have—" She looked down at the bloodless grass, embarrassed. "I have come to res... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Fate is a woman, I said to them. In fact, she is three women. Young, like us, so that they will have... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Trouble is, most times, when you go looking to sell your soul, nobody's buying. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I’m not a Knight. I’m a Bishop. Or at least I am trying to be. And traveling with you is the mos... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE All things are strange which are worth knowing. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE And there’s nothing wrong with spinsters, anyway. They have nice cats and little bowls full of can... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Men die. It's practically what they're for. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I do not tolerate a world emptied of you. I have tried. For a year I have called every black tree Ma... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Just about every science whiz can tell you how he or she took apart the TV or the radio when they we... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We think . . . that girls ought to sing. They ought to sing, and dance while they're singing. But... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Funny how "question" contains the word "quest" inside it, as though any small question asked is a jo... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It's funny, you know, they're always telling me to be a man, take it like a man, act like a man, lik... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It is true that novelists are shameless and obey no decent law, and they are not to be trusted on an... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Robots are like Mars: they need girls. Boys won't do; the memesoup is all wrong. The... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I’ve read science fiction and fantasy all my life – though when you’re a child, they just call... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Have you never known a cruel wind? What an easy, balmy, tropical life you must have! I never tease, ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I'm very touchy feely with my fandom, in part because they've never done me wrong or hurt me... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Where there is a Key, there is yet hope. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I am the plague which will burn through the marrow of the Anointed City. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE When one is traveling, everything looks brighter and lovelier. That does not mean it IS brighter and... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I will not let her speak because I love her, and when you love someone, you do not make them tell wa... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE This is my heart—carry it with you. I will dream of you in the dark, and you will taste it in my t... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Recite the Periodic Table of Teatime, in correct order, with Elemental Symbols, please.' A-Thro... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE When she spoke, the words were rote, taught to her by her captors, dead and empty, and forced. But h... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Whenever one does extraordinary things, someone is bound to try to repeat them for themselves. It's ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You'll forgive the flowery talk, won't you? Our family does so love to be told they are beautiful. V... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It appeals to the higher nature of the self to put aside food which once lived - I do not consider m... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Some thought he was quite wicked, but in truth, he was no more or less than any other crow: enamored... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Well," the Marsh King pursed his beak politely, "at any rate, your manliness need only last for a re... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She who invented words, and yet does not speak; she who brings dreams and visions, yet does not slee... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Never assume that a woman is wicked simply because she is ugly and behaves unfavorably towards you. ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Love, I've never been anyone's mother; I don't know how to talk to young or old. But don't stop smil... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE He tried to reconstruct the story in his mind, but it kept getting confused, bleeding into itself li... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Then he is a monster!" the Prince crowed, "and I must slay him at once. The Formula works!" CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Well enough. I won't ask you if your love is true or any of that rot—it's not my place to judge. A... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE ...her cry is a hook and it catches me in the throat. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You think I am so wicked, don't you? A monster. Unnatural. How cruel of me to keep you here and ratt... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I perceive that you have a cruel heart, my child. It lies within your breast like a smoldering blade... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE However wretched her origins, she chose freely to continue her crimes against us from the moment she... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You know how we can be about things which sparkle and shine. We imagine they will put back something... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Yes, yes, mistress, I shall go and accomplish your task. Only—I was not only sent to kill the Leuc... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Stories,' the green-eyed Sigrid said, unperturbed, 'are like prayers. It does not matter when you be... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She was beautiful and terrifying, savage and pure. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE You wanted Death? This is it. Dirt and decay, nothing more. Death translates us all into earth.” H... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE It is best in the end to let women see to their own vengeance. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Maidens stand still, they are lovely statues and all admire them. Witches do not stand still. I was ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I am a Prince," he replied, being rather dense. "It is the function of a Prince—value A—to kill ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE We all have someone we think shines so much more than we do that we are not even a moon to their sun... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE She is so stubborn, her heart has an argument with her head every time it wants to beat. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Here’s something I bet you don’t know: every time someone writes a story about a dragon CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE From that day forward she never used my name. Eventually I forgot it. Mrs. H called me something new... CATHERYNNE M VALENTE Your Eve was wise, John. She knew that Paradise would make her mad, if she were to live forever with... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE He didn't even know how to talk about it. He had practiced not talking about the things he knew unti... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I got a heart like a half bottle of no-label whiskey. Nothing to brag on, but enough for y... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE No one belongs when they are new to this world. All children are Changelings. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cann... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Everyone has a right to cry uncle on a genre every once in awhile. I've done it myself. Sometime... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Every writing teacher I ever had except for one told me I was an awful writer, had no idea what I wa... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I have always been delighted when told there was a piece of fanfic inspired by a book of mine floati... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I try to hurt myself, to sprain something, writing every novel and story, because I'm stretching... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Fantasy is my heart and love. And I just want to play in that garden for the rest of my life. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Every morning is a battle between the superego and the id, and I am a mere foot soldier with mud and... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Monsters almost always are culture's way of working out their fears and are thus inherently incr... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Vampires should be pretty much like mean girls, all the time, only amazing at it. Flawless. They'... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE For most of us, fanfiction is a non-issue. Even for midlist writers. We will never be popular enough... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I savor bitterness - it is born of experience. It is the privilege of one who has truly lived. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE PERCIVAL: Now, who is telling the story? SEVERIN: The camera is telling the story. It's watchin... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Night poured itself down my throat. Night was my wine and my meat. Night wed me and bedded me, widow... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Don't be superior. Everyone drinks blood. Blood is a word that means alive. You can do without almos... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I see you go bare-shod. This is most likely extremely sensible. Shoes are no end of trouble for girl... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I am not a toy, September! Fairyland cannot just cast me aside when it’s finished playing with me!... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE Listen to me. Love is a Yeti. It is bigger than you and frightening and terrible. It makes loud and ... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I was better than a punk. I was a protaganist. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE IN THE REFRIGERATOR MONOLOGUES Why not say it? I'm bursting out of my cocoon. It was all too nice in the past - it never knocked an... BENITA VALENTE Inside I have been a stabber, a screamer, a die-er from way back. BENITA VALENTE Young singers ask me, "Do I have to live in New York?" I say, "You can live wherever you want-as lon... BENITA VALENTE We're Kansas and the other side is Oz. People think no one lives here. But this is a really active n... LYNN VALENTE I want to come out of my house and see kids and people enjoying themselves. I grew up in the Marina.... LYNN VALENTE We want a vibrant neighborhood. We want to activate this big, scary empty space. LYNN VALENTE That's part of farming; you just have to deal with what you have. Every year is different. JOE VALENTE He asked to borrow my (cell) phone. When he handed it back, it was full of blood. JOE VALENTE I am a diamond But people see me as gold Honestly, I wanna be silver M -I would die for you -You lie -If I lie, why do I stand here before and beg on my knees t... M Morals; the pathetic answer to authority Seen two gorillas sharing a banana? M. COCHET M. I'm not a leftist; I'm where the righteous ought to be. M. M. COADY I believe in working with songs that have personal value for me. M. WARD It's no fun for me to cover a song and produce it the exact same way as it already exists. When ... M. WARD I'm somebody who gets a lot of inspiration from dreams. M. WARD When you work on a record for three years, it's a great sense of relief when it is finally out i... M. WARD I wouldn't want to cover a Hank Williams song in a country-western way. It doesn't occur to ... M. WARD I love the sound of Elmore James, the sound early guitarists like him got just by using minimal mean... M. WARD I get most of my inspiration from older records and older production styles, and that ends up rearin... M. WARD I do watch 'American Idol' sometimes. It's not really that pleasurable... I take that ba... M. WARD I don't really watch TV series because I don't want to get hooked on them and have them suck... M. WARD The South of France is one of my favorite places in the world. M. WARD I've worked with just as many talented women as I have talented men, and I feel fortunate enough... M. WARD I always prefer other people's interpretations over my own, so I'm not very quick to make ex... M. WARD I definitely don't see myself as much of a singer, because my upbringing is really based around ... M. WARD I get most of my inspiration from older records. Most of the records that I listen to were probably ... M. WARD It's a luxury to not have to just be performing with other people to have my music heard. M. WARD Certain things you have to stumble on to. They can't be preprogrammed. M. WARD I love the idea that I planned my career. I did not. It started out by getting invitations from arti... M. WARD I don't like the way recording to digital sounds. Most of the time, when I'm recording to tw... M. WARD