If I stop, I shall sink and die. That's the way I'm made. I have to keep going always, and even when I get where I'm going, I'll have to keep on. That's living.
Catherynne M. ValenteMarya Morevna, we are better at this than you are. We can hold two terrible ideas at once in our hearts. Never have your folk delighted us more, been more like family. For a devil, hypocrisy is a parlour game, like charades. Such fun, and when the evening is done we shall be holding our bellies to keep from dying of laughter.
Catherynne M. ValenteReaders will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief.
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. ValenteThis is what it means to be a woman in this world. Every step is a bargain with pain. Make your black deals in the black wood and decide what youโll trade for power. For the opposite of weakness, which is not strength but hardness. I am a trap, but so is everything. Pick your price. I am a huckster with a hand in your pocket. I am freedom and I will eat your heart.
Catherynne M. Valente