Quotes from Madeline Miller

I brought them to my mouth. But my courage failed. What was I truly? In the end, I could not bear to know.

she was claiming him. We all did. It was proper for a son to greet his father first; mothers came second, if at all. But she was a goddess.

He no longer belongs to me alone.

Ein goldener Käfig ist und bleibt ein Käfig.

The shutters were open. It must have rained in the night, I thought. The air that drifted in felt washed and very clear.

At Troy he found at last a scope to equal his abilities

Seit Hunderten von Generationen war ich nun schon auf der Erde - und war doch immer noch ein Kind.

For a hundred generations, I had walked the world drowsy and dull, idle and at ease. I left no prints, I did no deeds. Even those who had loved me a little did not care to stay. Then I learned that I could bend the world to my will, as a bow is bent for an arrow. I would have done that toil a thousand times to keep such power in my hands. I thought: this is how Zeus felt when he first lifted the thunderbolt.

Witchcraft transforms the world. He wanted only to join in.

But why did the madness come?" "The gods wished to punish him," Chiron answered. Achilles shook his head, impatiently. "But this was a greater punishment for her. It was not fair of them." "There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles," Chiron said. "And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?" "Perhaps," Achilles admitted.

I saw then how I had changed. I did not mind any more, that I lost when we raced and I lost when we swam out to the rocks and I lost when we tossed spears or skipped stones. 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.

but there was no wound that she could give me that i had not already given myself

At least, I thought in those early days, once I cast a spell, I would not have to learn it again. But even that was not true.

No habría ningún tipo de guerras si los soldados matasen únicamente a quienes les han hecho una ofensa personal, Pelida. —

i had no right to claim him, i knew it. but in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth, such a constellation was he to me.

Children of gods always came to their strength faster than mortals. He would miss them when they were gone, I knew. But I would find something else for him. I would help him forget. I would say, some people are like constellations who only touch the earth for a season.

She wants you to be a god,' I told him. 'I know.' His face twisted with embarrassment, and in spite of itself my heart lightened. It was such a boyish response. And so human. Parents, everywhere.

Such is the commander's lot. Such is the folly of humanity. Is it not our human tragedy that some men must be beaten like donkeys before they will see reason?

Somewhere his soul waits, but it is nowhere I can reach. Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free. His ashes settle among mine, and I feel nothing.

They look witless and dull, which lulls their enemies, but they are clever. They will remember your face.

There is nothing I can teach you. You know all that Heracles knew, and more. You are the greatest warrior of your generation, and all the generations before.

Their whispers choked me, turned the food in my mouth to ash. I pushed away my plate and sought out corners and spare halls where I might sit undisturbed, except for the occasional passing servant. My narrow world narrowed further: to the cracks in the floor, the carved whorls in the stone walls. They rasped softly as I traced them with my fingertip.

Nothing,' I said. 'Air.' 'Those are not the same,' he said. 'Nothing is empty void, while air is what fills all else. It is breath and life and spirit, the words we speak.

Every night when he slept, I stood over his bed and told myself: tomorrow I will do better.