This 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. ValenteYou only had to choose which me to talk to, for, you know, we all change our manners, depending on who has come to chat. One doesnโt behave at all the same way to a grandfather as to a bosom friend, to a professor as to a curious niece.
Catherynne M. ValenteWe all have someone we think shines so much more than we do that we are not even a moon to their sun, but a dead little rock floating in space next to their gold and their blaze.
Catherynne M. ValenteI burn, I freeze; I am never warm. I am rigid; I forgot softness because it did not serve me.
Catherynne M. ValenteFunny how "question" contains the word "quest" inside it, as though any small question asked is a journey through briars.
Catherynne M. Valente