Every writing teacher I ever had except for one told me I was an awful writer, had no idea what I was doing, and should stop immediately. It only took the one to tell me something different to light a fire under me.
Catherynne M. ValenteRead
All stories must end so, with the next tale winking out of the corners of the last pages, promising more, promising moonlight and dancing and revels, if only you will come back when spring comes again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that every story has an ending that also hints at new beginnings and the promise of future joy.
In this quote, Catherynne M. Valente highlights the cyclical nature of storytelling, where each narrative conclusion opens the door to new adventures and experiences. The imagery of 'moonlight and dancing' evokes a sense of hope and wonder, encouraging the reader to return for more when the time is right, emphasizing the beauty of both endings and new beginnings in life.
Themes
StoriesEndingsNew BeginningsHopePromise
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of storytelling in culture.
More from Catherynne M. Valente
All quotes →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. ValenteRead
I do not tolerate a world emptied of you. I have tried. For a year I have called every black tree Marya Morevna; I have looked for your face in the patterns of the ice. In the dark, I have pored over the loss of you like pale gold.
Catherynne M. ValenteRead
Stories,' the green-eyed Sigrid said, unperturbed, 'are like prayers. It does not matter when you begin, or when you end, only that you bend a knee and say the words.
Catherynne M. ValenteRead
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. But when you live as long as I have, you get many more. I look nothing like I did when I was a wee thing of thirteen. You get the face you build your whole life, with work and loving and grieving and laughing and frowning.
Catherynne M. ValenteRead
A marriage is a private thing. It has its own wild laws, and secret histories, and savage acts, and what passes between married people is incomprehensible to outsiders. We look terrible to you, and severe, and you see our blood flying, but what we carry between us is hard-won, and we made it just as we wished it to be, just the color, just the shape.
Catherynne M. ValenteRead
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