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 More Quotes by Catherynne M. Valente More Quotes From Catherynne M. Valente That’s what a map is, you know. Just a memory. Catherynne M. Valente maps knows memories But this is a story, and in a story there is always someone beautiful enough." - 'The Girl with Two Skins' from A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects Catherynne M. Valente girl beautiful two 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 lonely men memories When little ones say they want to go home, they almost never mean it. They mean they are tired of this particular game and would like to start another. Catherynne M. Valente tired home mean Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else. Catherynne M. Valente hats 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 novelists honor law 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 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 spit knights people Things that are unsightly: birthmarks, infidelity, strangers in one's kitchen. Too much sunlight. Stitches. Missing teeth. Overlong guests. Catherynne M. Valente kitchen infidelity missing Fierce was her needle, and she wore it like a sword. Catherynne M. Valente needles fierce One can never be sure,” the Green Wind sighed. “There is always the danger of kisses where sleeping maids are concerned. But you are safe now, and for awhile yet, and why worry about a thing that may never come to pass? Do not ruin today with mourning tomorrow. Catherynne M. Valente kissing sleep wind Oh, quit that. Blushing is for virgins and Christians. Catherynne M. Valente blushing quitting christian 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 rescue admitting grass I looked at this man and thought: Oh, how we are going to hurt each other. Catherynne M. Valente hurt men Love, I've never been anyone's mother; I don't know how to talk to young or old. But don't stop smiling just because I flap my mouth and say something that's not dressed around the edges like a lace tablecloth. Thicken up and we'll get along fine. Catherynne M. Valente lace mouths mother She was beautiful and terrifying, savage and pure. Catherynne M. Valente savages pure beautiful I perceive that you have a cruel heart, my child. It lies within your breast like a smoldering blade, hissing steam at me. Catherynne M. Valente heart lying children He tried to reconstruct the story in his mind, but it kept getting confused, bleeding into itself like watercolors. Catherynne M. Valente confused stories mind 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 fighting kings winning It is best in the end to let women see to their own vengeance. Catherynne M. Valente vengeance ends
