Neil Gaiman
Every lover is, in his heart, a madman, and, in his head, a minstrel. — Neil Gaiman, Stardust (William Morrow; Reprint edition, October 30, 2012) Originally published January 1, 1998.
Category: Fairy Tale
Catherynne M. Valente
‘Forests have secrets,’ he said gently. ‘It’s practically what they’re for. To hide things. To separate one world from another.’ — Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless. (Tor Books; First Edition edition March 29, 2011)
Gregory Maguire
The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say. ― Gregory Maguire, Mirror Mirror. (ReganBooks September 28, 2004) Originally published October 14th 2003.
W.B. Yeats
We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet. ― W.B. Yeats, from “Earth, Fire, and Water,” The Celtic Twilight: Faerie… Continue reading W.B. Yeats
Hans Christian Andersen
But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more. — Hans Christian Andersen, from “The Little Mermaid” (1836). Originally published by C.A. Reitzel on 7 April 1837 in Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. Third Booklet. 1837 (Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Tredie Hefte. 1837).
Angela Carter
She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the windows of her eyes and that is very frightening. She has the mysterious solitude of ambiguous states; she hovers in a no-man’s land between life and death, sleeping and waking. — Angela Carter, “The Lady… Continue reading Angela Carter
Hans Christian Anderson
The Little Match GIrl Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening– the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but… Continue reading Hans Christian Anderson
Angela Carter
When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me… And, for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption… Continue reading Angela Carter
Catherynne M. Valente
You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut, just that fast. ― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless. (Tor Books; First Edition edition March 29, 2011)
Angela Carter
I will vanish in the morning light; I was only an invention of darkness. — Angela Carter, from “The Lady of the House of Love,” The Blood Chamber and Other Stories (Harper & Row, 1980)
The Vale of Soul-Making 