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Top 500 Catherynne M. Valente Quotes (2026 Update)
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Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “The trouble was, September didn’t know what sort of story she was in. Was it a merry one or a serious one? How ought she to act? If it was merry, she might dash after a Spoon and it would all be a grand adventure, with funny rhymes and somersaults and a grand party at the end with red lanterns. But if it was a serious tale, she might have to do something important, something involving with snow and arrows and enemies.”

251. “The trouble was, September didn’t know what sort of story she was in. Was it a merry one or a serious one? How ought she to act? If it was merry, she might dash after a Spoon and it would all be a grand adventure, with funny rhymes and somersaults and a grand party at the end with red lanterns. But if it was a serious tale, she might have to do something important, something involving with snow and arrows and enemies.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Most people don’t like complexity. They would prefer the world to be simple.”

252. “Most people don’t like complexity. They would prefer the world to be simple.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Things that are unsightly: birthmarks, infidelity, strangers in one’s kitchen. Too much sunlight. Stitches. Missing teeth. Overlong guests.”

253. “Things that are unsightly: birthmarks, infidelity, strangers in one’s kitchen. Too much sunlight. Stitches. Missing teeth. Overlong guests.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “A girl in want of a Leopard still has feet.”

254. “A girl in want of a Leopard still has feet.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “In my experience, folk find it nigh on impossible to call a thing what it is. It.”

255. “In my experience, folk find it nigh on impossible to call a thing what it is. It.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “I belong in the refrigerator. Because the truth is, I’m just food for a superhero. He’ll eat up my death and get the energy he needs to become a legend.”

256. “I belong in the refrigerator. Because the truth is, I’m just food for a superhero. He’ll eat up my death and get the energy he needs to become a legend.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “You have to be able to see the world as a whole to bear it – to see the Queerness that moves in every bit of Fairyland, how it threads through every heart and field, how we are all bound together up in the Weird Well of the World.”

257. “You have to be able to see the world as a whole to bear it – to see the Queerness that moves in every bit of Fairyland, how it threads through every heart and field, how we are all bound together up in the Weird Well of the World.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “You can’t say no if you don’t have desires and opinions and wants of your own. You wouldn’t even want to. No is the heart of thinking.”

258. “You can’t say no if you don’t have desires and opinions and wants of your own. You wouldn’t even want to. No is the heart of thinking.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Honesty is such a nasty habit, dear. Like biting your nails.”

259. “Honesty is such a nasty habit, dear. Like biting your nails.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Every person draws a map that shows themselves at the center. But that does not mean that no other countries exist.”

260. “Every person draws a map that shows themselves at the center. But that does not mean that no other countries exist.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Be nice to Fairyland. She is old and tender of heart and when her feelings are hurt, she cries volcanoes.”

261. “Be nice to Fairyland. She is old and tender of heart and when her feelings are hurt, she cries volcanoes.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Temperament, you’ll find, is highly dependent on time of day, weather, frequency of naps, and whether one has had enough to eat.”

262. “Temperament, you’ll find, is highly dependent on time of day, weather, frequency of naps, and whether one has had enough to eat.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Very well, you do so love rules! I shall make some up for you on the spot, so that my little moppet is not forced to wander the world in a soup of stories without laws. A tale may have exactly three beginnings: one for the audience, one for the artist, and one for the poor bastard who has to live in it.”

263. “Very well, you do so love rules! I shall make some up for you on the spot, so that my little moppet is not forced to wander the world in a soup of stories without laws. A tale may have exactly three beginnings: one for the audience, one for the artist, and one for the poor bastard who has to live in it.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “I have all the books I need, and what more could I need than books? I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin.”

264. “I have all the books I need, and what more could I need than books? I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “You should always listen to minotaurs. Anybody with four stomachs has to have a firm grip on reality.”

265. “You should always listen to minotaurs. Anybody with four stomachs has to have a firm grip on reality.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “This was how it was done; you bare your belly to a great beast and endure trials and it all works itself out. There is a treasure or a sword. Or a woman. And that thing is yours not because you defeated anything, or because your flesh was hard and unyielding, but because you were worthy of it, worthy all along.”

266. “This was how it was done; you bare your belly to a great beast and endure trials and it all works itself out. There is a treasure or a sword. Or a woman. And that thing is yours not because you defeated anything, or because your flesh was hard and unyielding, but because you were worthy of it, worthy all along.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief.”

267. “Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “I will not let her speak because I love her, and when you love someone you do not make them tell war stories.”

268. “I will not let her speak because I love her, and when you love someone you do not make them tell war stories.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “I asked a queen once why she didn’t want me. She wasn’t a powerful queen, not a monarch of Spain or of Albania. Just a little kingdom of nowhere, but she married well and she had a crown. The queen of nowhere looked at me with her clear grey eyes and said: “Because I don’t want to be in a story.” Princesses usually grow up to be queens. The cleverness sticks long after the beauty goes.”

269. “I asked a queen once why she didn’t want me. She wasn’t a powerful queen, not a monarch of Spain or of Albania. Just a little kingdom of nowhere, but she married well and she had a crown. The queen of nowhere looked at me with her clear grey eyes and said: “Because I don’t want to be in a story.” Princesses usually grow up to be queens. The cleverness sticks long after the beauty goes.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “The storm ate up September’s cry of despair, delighted at its mischief, as all storms are.”

270. “The storm ate up September’s cry of despair, delighted at its mischief, as all storms are.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “I’ve a devil of a habit for being right.”

271. “I’ve a devil of a habit for being right.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “She’s got a man’s nightshirt on and stockings with holes in them. Somebody else’s tie, a gold and green chevroned number, hangs around her neck and just at this moment it looks like a king’s mantle draped over her shoulders. Her hair’s all loose, her lipstick and eyeliner gone a-roving. She’s got a cigar in one hand and a jar full of gin in the other, and she’s laughing, laughing like for once that damned chicken crossed the road for something really good.”

272. “She’s got a man’s nightshirt on and stockings with holes in them. Somebody else’s tie, a gold and green chevroned number, hangs around her neck and just at this moment it looks like a king’s mantle draped over her shoulders. Her hair’s all loose, her lipstick and eyeliner gone a-roving. She’s got a cigar in one hand and a jar full of gin in the other, and she’s laughing, laughing like for once that damned chicken crossed the road for something really good.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Be my friend and love me, for the world is terrible lonely and I am sad.”

273. “Be my friend and love me, for the world is terrible lonely and I am sad.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Night poured itself down my throat. Night was my wine and my meat. Night wed me and bedded me, widowed me and murdered me and resurrected me whole a thousand times over with each hour.”

274. “Night poured itself down my throat. Night was my wine and my meat. Night wed me and bedded me, widowed me and murdered me and resurrected me whole a thousand times over with each hour.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “There are no tigers for us, just a city, waiting, and it loves us, in whatever ways a city can love.”

275. “There are no tigers for us, just a city, waiting, and it loves us, in whatever ways a city can love.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Being on time is a filthy habit practised only by roosters and retirees.”

276. “Being on time is a filthy habit practised only by roosters and retirees.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “First Law of Heroics.” The Monaciello grinned up at a confused September. “Someone has to tell you it’s impossible, or the Quest can’t go on.”

277. “First Law of Heroics.” The Monaciello grinned up at a confused September. “Someone has to tell you it’s impossible, or the Quest can’t go on.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Truly, Mallow yearned to know everything. Curiosity was part of her, like her short blond hair and bitten fingernails.”

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

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “That’s what a map is, you know. Just a memory. Just a wish to go back home – someday, somehow.”

279. “That’s what a map is, you know. Just a memory. Just a wish to go back home – someday, somehow.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “It is such hard work to keep your heart hidden! And worse, by the time you find it easy, it will be harder still to show it.”

280. “It is such hard work to keep your heart hidden! And worse, by the time you find it easy, it will be harder still to show it.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Everyone Is Looking for a Book Strong Enough to Change Them.”

281. “Everyone Is Looking for a Book Strong Enough to Change Them.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Who knows what wild things Sleeping Beauty dreamt of while waiting to awake?”

282. “Who knows what wild things Sleeping Beauty dreamt of while waiting to awake?”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “But love is love, and love is compulsion. I must, and I do.”

283. “But love is love, and love is compulsion. I must, and I do.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “A stepmother is like a bullet you can’t dig out. She fires true and she fires hot and she fires so quick that her metal hits your body before you even know there’s a fight on.”

284. “A stepmother is like a bullet you can’t dig out. She fires true and she fires hot and she fires so quick that her metal hits your body before you even know there’s a fight on.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “I still want to kiss you. To feel the life in you seize on the life in me. Raw and fresh and new.”

285. “I still want to kiss you. To feel the life in you seize on the life in me. Raw and fresh and new.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Shoes are funny beasts. You think they’re just clothes, but really, they’re alive. They want things. Fancy ones with gems want to go to balls, big boots want to go to work, slippers want to dance. Or sleep. Shoes make the path you’re on. Change your shoes, change your path.”

286. “Shoes are funny beasts. You think they’re just clothes, but really, they’re alive. They want things. Fancy ones with gems want to go to balls, big boots want to go to work, slippers want to dance. Or sleep. Shoes make the path you’re on. Change your shoes, change your path.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “It’s Latin, which is an excellent language for mischief-making, which is why governments are so fond of it.”

287. “It’s Latin, which is an excellent language for mischief-making, which is why governments are so fond of it.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “We always dreamed the same dreams, which was like living twice.”

288. “We always dreamed the same dreams, which was like living twice.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Some small ones learn to stitch together a Coat of Scowls or a Scarf of Jokes to hide their Hearts. Some hammer up a Fort of Books to protect theirs.”

289. “Some small ones learn to stitch together a Coat of Scowls or a Scarf of Jokes to hide their Hearts. Some hammer up a Fort of Books to protect theirs.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “September had no natural defense against lost things, being one herself.”

290. “September had no natural defense against lost things, being one herself.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “When you can change something just by saying a word, that is magic.”

291. “When you can change something just by saying a word, that is magic.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “The Sibyl Slant stared out of her slit eyes, the disc of her face showing no feeling at all. “Do you suppose you will look the same when you are an old woman as you do now? Most folk have three faces – the face they get when they’re children, the face they own when they’re grown, and the face they’ve earned when they’re old.”

292. “The Sibyl Slant stared out of her slit eyes, the disc of her face showing no feeling at all. “Do you suppose you will look the same when you are an old woman as you do now? Most folk have three faces – the face they get when they’re children, the face they own when they’re grown, and the face they’ve earned when they’re old.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “It is in the nature of winds to Snatch and Grasp at things, and Blow Them Away.”

293. “It is in the nature of winds to Snatch and Grasp at things, and Blow Them Away.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Humanity lived many years and ruled the earth, sometimes wisely, sometimes well, but mostly neither.”

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

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “She’d thought she left feeling helpless behind long ago – only we never leave helpless behind. It is a country in which we all hold passports.”

295. “She’d thought she left feeling helpless behind long ago – only we never leave helpless behind. It is a country in which we all hold passports.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Humans do not proceed in an orderly fashion from one scene to the next. Memory lies underneath happenstance; hope and dread sprawl on top. Our days and nights are their endless orgies.”

296. “Humans do not proceed in an orderly fashion from one scene to the next. Memory lies underneath happenstance; hope and dread sprawl on top. Our days and nights are their endless orgies.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “No one’s good just from being born any place.”

297. “No one’s good just from being born any place.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “September frowned; she probably did need to hear things which were cruel but true. If they were true it did not matter if they were cruel, even if all her mistakes were laid out before her like rings in a jeweler’s box.”

298. “September frowned; she probably did need to hear things which were cruel but true. If they were true it did not matter if they were cruel, even if all her mistakes were laid out before her like rings in a jeweler’s box.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “Dying happens to everyone, even stars. Even the stuff between the stars. But if you believe in yourself and achieve your goals, you can die so hard that no one will ever forget you, and that’s almost as good as not dying at all. Well, it isn’t, really, it isn’t at all, and believing and achieving is just something sportscasters say, but what are you gonna do, not die? Try it. I’ll wait.”

299. “Dying happens to everyone, even stars. Even the stuff between the stars. But if you believe in yourself and achieve your goals, you can die so hard that no one will ever forget you, and that’s almost as good as not dying at all. Well, it isn’t, really, it isn’t at all, and believing and achieving is just something sportscasters say, but what are you gonna do, not die? Try it. I’ll wait.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente Quote: “You come and go, vanish and appear. You miss years that go by for us, and we miss years that go by for you. We never know when we will find you again, or if we will. You meet us out of order, and sometimes I’ll be older and sometimes you will be because that’s the kind of story we’re in. It’s all jumbled up on the outside, but it all makes sense in your head. It all flows the right way in your heart.”

300. “You come and go, vanish and appear. You miss years that go by for us, and we miss years that go by for you. We never know when we will find you again, or if we will. You meet us out of order, and sometimes I’ll be older and sometimes you will be because that’s the kind of story we’re in. It’s all jumbled up on the outside, but it all makes sense in your head. It all flows the right way in your heart.”

— Catherynne M. Valente

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