Deathless Quotes

“In a city by the sea which was once called St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, then Leningrad, then, much later, St. Petersburg again, there stood a long, thin house on a long, thin street. By a long, thin window, a child in a pale blue dress and pale green slippers waited for a bird to marry her.”
― catherynne m valente, Deathless

“Marya pinned out her childhood like a butterfly. She considered it the way a mathematician considers an equation.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Do you think I am a fool, Masha? All this time, and you speak to me as though I were a flighty pinprick of a girl. I am a magician! Did you never think, even once, that I loved lipstick and rouge for more than their color alone? I am a student of their lore, and it is arcane and hermetic beyond the dreams of alchemists. Did you never wonder why I gave you so many pots, so many creams, so much perfume?”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“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, Deathless

“Histories are instruments of oppression.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“I am not a little girl anymore, dazzled by your magic. It is my magic, now, too.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Let the truth be told: There is no virtue anywhere. Life is sly and unscrupulous, a blackguard, wolfish, severe. In service to itself, it will commit any offense. So, too, is Death possessed of infinite strategies and a gaunt nature—but also mercy, also grace and tenderness. In his own country, Death can be kind. But of an end to their argument, we shall have none, not ever, until the end of all.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“The nearness of him crushed her, like being held by the sun.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“At night, she whispered into the pipes: I hate it here. Please take me away, let me be something other than Marya, something magical, with a round belly. Frighten me, make me cry, only come back.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“But what have I to prove? It should be you wrapped up in Zmey Gorinich’s coils, proving that you are not a monster, that you are worthy of me!”

“Have I not proven it? Have I not taken you out of your starving city and fed you, clothed you in fine things, taught you how to listen and how to speak, brought you to a place where you are a mistress, a tsarevna adored and worshipped, made love to, your skin dusted with jewels? Did I not dower myself? Did I not come to you on my knees with a kingdom in my hand?”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“She said you’d come and I swore to eat your heart.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“I have survived, but I have not been spared.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Punishment doesn't mean you aren't loved. On the contrary. You can only punish someone you love.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Brother," he wept, "my heart is being cut in two. I cannot bear it."
"Tscha!" said the Tsar of Birds. "Life is like that.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“He’ll burn you down like wax if you let him. You’ll think it’s love, when he dines on your heart. And maybe it will be”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“There is no better teacher of rough necessity than bad luck, and you will have great use of me, I promise.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“After that, Marya Morevna understood that she belonged to her secret and it belonged to her. They had struck a bloody bargain between them.Keep me and obey me,the secret said to her,for I am your husband and I can destroy you.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“You can be innocent again. It's not true, what they say, that you can never get it back. You can. It's only that most folk cannot be bothered.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Men, they feel nothing like what we must endure. You have to make room in yourself for him, and that is the same in a house as in a body. See that you keep some rooms in yourself, locked up tight.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Yes, Marya thought, the smell of woodsmoke and old snow pushing back her long black hair. 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, Deathless

“She had not known before that she wanted all these things, that she preferred dark hair and a slightly cruel expression, that she wished for tallness, or that a man kneeling might thrill her.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Koschei brought you to me. You were so near death that ghosts crowded around you, weeping silver tears, waiting for you with such smiles. You humans, you know, whoever built you sewed irony into your sinews.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“I have to know, I have to or else you will just rule me until the end of everything because you know and I do not.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“it is better to be strong and cruel than to be fair. At least, one eats better that way. And morality is more dependent on the state of one's stomach than of one's nation”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Surely you didn't think deathless meant dickless.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“I want to be myself again. I want to be six. I want to stop knowing everything I know.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Koschei the Deathless made a face as he tasted the wine." It is far too sweet. Comrade Stalin fears bitterness and has the tastes of a spoiled princess. I savor bitterness--it is born of experience. It is the privilege of one who has truly lived. You, too, must learn to prefer it. After all, when all else is gone, you may still have bitterness in abundance.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“But you know, a wizard with black hair and a thick mustache put a curse on Moscow, and Petrograd, too, so that no one would be able to tell the truth without lying. If a novelist wrote a true story about how things really happened, no one would believe him, and he might even be punished for spreading propaganda. But if he wrote a book full of lies about things that could never really happen, with only a few true things hidden in it, well, he would be hailed as a hero of the People, given a seat at a writers' café, served wine and ukha, and not have to pay for any of it. He'd get a salaried summer on the dacha, and be feted. Even given a medal by the wizard with the thick mustache."
The waiter whistled. "That's a good curse. I should like to shake that wizard's hand and buy him a vodka or two.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“Do you think I am a foo, Masha? All this time, and you speak to me as though I were a flighty pinprick of a girl. I am a magician! Did you ever think, even once, that I loved lipstick and rouge for more than their color alone? I am a student of their lore, and it is arcane and hermetic beyond the dreams of alchemists. Did you ever wonder why I gave you so many pots, so many creams, so much perfume?
...
Cosmetics are an extension of the will. Why do you think all men paint themselves when they go to fight? When I paint my eyes to match my soup, it is not because I have nothing better to do than worry over trifles. It says, I belong here, and you will not deny me. When I streak my lips red as foxgloves, I say, Come here, male. I am your mate, and you will not deny me. When I pinch my cheeks and dust them with mother-of-pearl, I say, Death, keep off, I am your enemy and you will not deny me. I say these things, and the world listens, Masha. Because my magic is as strong as an arm. I am never denied.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

“But you like him already, I can tell. Even though we showed our teeth and were very clear about his being wicked.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless