Quotes from Madeline Miller

Now that I knew who she was, such meekness looked absurd on her, like a great eagle trying to hunch down to fit inside a sparrow's nest.

You chose her," he says. "Over me." "Over your pride." "My life is my reputation. It is all I have. I will not live much longer. Memory is all I can hope for. You know this. And you would let Agamemnon destroy it? Would you help him take it from me?

Néanmoins, dans une existence solitaire, il existe des moments rares où une autre âme plonge tout près de la vôtre, comme les étoiles qui s'approchent de la terre une fois par an. Pour moi, il avait été ce genre de constellation-là.

He was another knife, I could feel it. A different sort, but a knife still. I did not care. I thought: give me the blade. Some things are worth spilling blood for.

Does no one have the courage? Will no one dare to face me?

They will resent you. Worse, they will suspect you, for you are the daughter of a sorcerer and a witch in your own right.

But all the rest would come from his father, for mortality always bred truer than godhead.

For who can be ashamed to lose to such beauty? It was enough to watch him win, to see the soles of his feet flashing as they kicked up sand, or the rise and fall of his shoulders as he pulled through the salt. It was enough.

you can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature. ~ Odysseus

When we are young, we think ourselves the first to have each feeling in the world

But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such

As it turns out, I did kill pigs that night after all

Have you no memories?" 'I am made of memories.

I fear I have robbed them not only of their youth but their age as well.

That was the moment I lived for, when it all came clear at last and the spell could sing with its pure note, for me and me alone.

I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me. If I had words to speak such a thing, I would have. But there were none that seemed big enough for it, to hold that swelling truth.

We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but each other

When I was a boy and everyone played at wrestling monsters like Heracles, I dreamed of being Daedalus instead. It seemed the greater genius to look at raw wood and iron, and imagine marvels.

He is lost in Agamemnon and Odysseus' wily double meanings, their lies and games of power. They have confounded him, tied him to a stake and baited him. I stroke the soft skin of his forehead. I would untie him if I could. If he would let me.

I let the pebbles tumble to the ground from my fingers, where they lie, haphazard or purposeful, an augury or an accident. If Chiron were here, he could read them, tell us our fortunes. But he is not here. "What if he will not beg?" I ask. "Then he will die. They will all die. I will not fight until he does." His chin juts, bracing for reproach. I am worn out. My arm hurts where I cut it, and my skin feels coated with unwholesome sweat. I do not answer.

Come, make us into magic.

The question stung. If I had been a proper daughter, he would not have had to ask. I would have been perfect and gleaming with beauty poured straight from my father's source.

In our day, death was preferable. But my father was a practical man. My wight in gold was less than the expense of the lavish funeral my death would have demanded.

Se ausentaba a la última hora de la noche o a primera hora de la mañana, cuando todos dormían en palacio, y regresaba con las mejillas enrojecidas y oliendo a mar.