One of the many quotes on love..."Love can come only with time and sentience. We learn it as we learn language--and some never learn it well. Love is like a tool, though it is not a tool; something strange and wonderful to use, difficult to master, and mysterious in its provenance.
Catherynne M. ValenteFairy tales have always been about getting through the worst of everything, the darkest and the deepest and the bloodiest of events. They are about surviving, and what you look like when you emerge from the trial. The reason we keep telling fairy tales over and over, that we need to keep telling them, is that the trials change. So the stories change too, and the heroines and villains and magical objects, to keep them true. Fairy tales are the closets where the world keeps its skeletons.
Catherynne M. ValenteYou will live as you live anywhere. With difficulty, and grief. Yes, you are dead. And I and my family and everyone, always, forever. All dead, like stones. But what does it matter? You still have to go to work in the morning. You still have to live.
Catherynne M. ValenteSomeone ought to write a novel about me,โ said Lebedeva loftily. โI shouldnโt 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 canโt abide a poor liar.
Catherynne M. ValenteIt was at thirteen years old that Marya Morevna learned how to keep a secret, and that secrets are jealous things, permitting no fraternization.
Catherynne M. ValenteHats change everything. September knew this with all her being, deep in the place where she knew her own name, and that her mother would still love her even though she hadnโt waved goodbye. For one day her father had put on a hat with golden things on it and suddenly he hadnโt been her father anymore, he had been a soldier, and he had left. Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else.
Catherynne M. Valente