Quotes by Catherynne M. Valente

About Catherynne M. Valente:

Catherynne M. Valente is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. For her speculative fiction novels she has won the annual James Tiptree, Andre Norton, and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, the World Fantasy Award–winning anthologies Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, along with numerous Year's Best volumes. Her critical work has appeared in the International Journal of the Humanities under the name Bethany L. Thomas as well as in numerous essay collections.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It's not a game if you don't cheat, it's just two sods making a mess with fifty-two pieces of paper.

Catherynne M. Valente

Truly, Mallow yearned to know everything. Curiosity was part of her, like her short blond hair and bitten fingernails.

Catherynne M. Valente

I am a practical girl, and a life is only so long. It should be spent in as much peace and good eating and good reading as possible and no undue excitement. That is all I am after.

Catherynne M. Valente

I suppose if you ten children one of them might go into government, which is the same as losing a child really.

Catherynne M. Valente

A Fairy must make her own way in the world, for the world will never make way for her. That, incidentally, is the First Theorem of Questing Physicks, which you’ll learn all about when you’re older and don’t care anymore.

Catherynne M. Valente

...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

Temptation likes best those who think they have a natural immunity, for it may laugh all the harder when they succumb.

Catherynne M. Valente

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

Finally, she said: “I’m lonely” — it’s weird but you tell the wolves things, sometimes. You can’t help it, all these old wounds come open and suddenly you’re confessing to a wolf who never says anything back. She said: “I’m lonely,�...

Catherynne M. Valente

And hell, sometimes the best thing is to put on a black dress and become a wicked stepmother. There’s power in that, if you’re after power.

Catherynne M. Valente

Tamburlaine's house seemed more a place where books kept their people than where people kept their books.

Catherynne M. Valente

Vampires should be pretty much like mean girls, all the time, only amazing at it. Flawless. They've had time.

Catherynne M. Valente

The burnt-off connectors and shadows where Ravan once filled my spaces— those, I think, are the sensations of grief.

Catherynne M. Valente

Humanity lived many years and ruled the earth, sometimes wisely, sometimes well, but mostly neither.

Catherynne M. Valente

Robots are like Mars: they need girls. Boys won't do; the memesoup is all wrong. They stomp when they should kiss and they're none too keen on having things shoved inside them... It's not a robot until you put a girl inside. Sometimes I feel like tha...

Catherynne M. Valente

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

However wretched her origins, she chose freely to continue her crimes against us from the moment she woke to this life. It is easy to forgive beautiful women, especially when they lay a sorrowful tale before you like a sugar-dusted meal. It does not ...

Catherynne M. Valente

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

Thieves are not so bad, and killing wears all possible costumes. There is no death, no murder that is better than any other. If you can kill me, the manner hardly bears consideration. You want to kill your own father, and you think it will make your ...

Catherynne M. Valente

The oligarchs do not care what justice is, only what seems just. They do not care what mercy is, only what appears merciful. Thus justice and mercy will always escape them.

Catherynne M. Valente

Author Bio

  • NameCatherynne M. Valente
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • BornMay 5, 1979
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPoet; Novelist; Writer
  • AwardsLambda Literary Award