Quotes from Madeline Miller

You have always been the worst of my children," he said. "Be sure you do not dishonor me." "I have a better idea. I will do as I please, and when you count your children, leave me out." His body was rigid with wrath. He looked as though he had swallowed a stone, and it choked him. "Give Mother my greetings," I said. His jaw bit down and he was gone.

I'm going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it." "Why me?" "Because you're the reason. Swear it." "I swear it," I said, lost in the high color of his cheeks, the flame in his eyes.

So you see, in my way, I was eager for what came.

I remember the runners best, nut-brown bodies slicked with oil, stretching on the track beneath the sun. They mix together, broad-shouldered husbands, beardless youths and boys, their calves all thickly carved with muscle.

A few of these, so few I can count them on my fingers, I let go. They did not see me as their dinner. They were pious men, honestly lost, and I would feed them and if there was a handsome one among them I might take him to my bed. It was not desire, not even its barest scrapings. It was a sort of rage, a knife I used upon myself. I did it to prove my skin was still my own.

Island of Lesbos

saffron. Not only Titans would attend. Minos was

So many years I had spent as a child sifting his bright features for his thoughts, trying to glimpse among them one that bore my name. But he was a harp with only one string, and the note it played was himself.

I thought once that gods are the opposite of death, but I see now that they are more dead than anything, for they are unchanging, and can hold nothing in their hands.

War has always seemed to me a foolish choice for men. Whatever they win from it, they will have only a handful of years to enjoy before they die. Most likely they will perish trying.

Pero quizá ningún progenitor sea capaz de ver realmente a sus hijos. Cuando los miramos vemos únicamente el reflejo de nuestros propios recuerdos

I did not tell him the prophecy. I watched him eat and fingered my rage as if it were a knife's point. I wanted to keep it sharp for as long as I could.

He rolled onto his side to face me. A stray lock of gold fell half into his eyes; he blew it away. "My name is Achilles.

Es un arma, un asesino. No lo olvides. Puedes usar una lanza como cayado para los paseos, pero eso no va a cambiar su naturaleza.

Dans l'obscurité, deux ombres tendent les bras à travers le crépuscule pesant et sans espoir. Leurs mains se rencontrent, et quand la lumière les inonde subitement, on dirait que cent urnes dorées déversent soudain leur contenu ensoleillé.

kimse taraf?ndan rahats?z edilmeden oturabilece?im kö?eler, bo? koridorlar arad?m. Küçücük dünyam daha da küçülmü?, zemindeki çatlaklara, duvarlardaki sarmal kabartmalara kadar daralm??t?. Parma??m?n ucunu üzerlerinde gezdirirken çatlaklar ve kabartmalar hafif f?s?lt?larla konu?uyordu.

would say, some people are like constellations that only touch the earth for a season.

The stars turned, and somewhere the moon crept across the sky. When my eyes dragged closed again, he was waiting for me still, covered in blood, his face as pale as bone. Of course he was. No soul wished to be sent early to the endless gloom of our underworld. Exile might satisfy the anger of the living, but it did not appease the dead.

That word between us, Ithaca, like the breaking of a spell.

I would live on, through each scalding moment to the next.

We are sorry, we are sorry. Sorry that you were caught, I said. Sorry that you thought I was weak. But you were wrong.

I would like you to teach me." Chiron's stern face softened. "That is why you have been sent here. So that I may teach you what I know.

Go, he waits for you.

Philtatos" He said sharply. Most beloved "Best of men and slaughtered by your son.