Quotes from Madeline Miller

I reached across that breathing air between us and found him.

I waited. I still hoped Glaucos would think of me. I would have married him in a moment. But I found myself hoping for another thing too, which I would not have believed the day before: that he would weep all the salt in his veins for Scylla's return, holding fast to her as his one, true love.

bajo la apariencia plácida y familiar de las cosas, hay otra cara que aguarda el momento de romper el mundo en pedazos.

There are too many of them,' he said. 'It's simpler if they just remember me.

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

He puts a hand down, to lean against. The muscles in his arm curve softly, appearing and disappearing as he moves. His eyes are deep green on mine. My pulse jumps, for no reason I can name. He has look at me a thousand thousand times, but there is something different in this gaze, an intensity I do not know. My mouth is dry, and I can hear the sound of my throat as I swallow.

Could a boy of sixteen really be our greatest warrior? And everywhere, as I watched the questions, I saw also the answers. Yes, they nodded to each other, yes, yes.

I listen to his breath, warm upon the night air, and somehow I am comforted. He does not mean that it does not hurt. He does not mean that we are not frightened. Only that we are here. This is what it means to swim in the tide, to walk the earth and feel it touch your feet. This is what it means to be alive.

Daedalus did not long outlive his son. His limbs turned grey and nerveless, and all his strength was transmuted into smoke. I had no right to claim him, I knew it. But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near into yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.

Me tendí de espaldas e intenté no pensar en el paso de los minutos. En el día de ayer los teníamos en abundancia y ahora cada uno era como una gota de sangre perdida.

How could such variation endure, such endless iteration of minds and faces? Did the earth not go mad

L'ultima cosa che penso è: Achille.

She says that there is strangeness among the gods, that they are fighting with each other, taking sides in the war. She fears that the gods have promised me fame, but not how much.

I saw then how I had changed. I did not mind anymore 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

THE GREATER THE MONUMENT, the greater the man. The stone the Greeks quarry for his grave is huge and white, stretching up to the sky. ACHILLES, it reads. It will stand for him, and speak to all who pass: he lived and died, and lives again in memory.

Plus tard , Achille dort à côté de moi. L'orage annoncé par Ulysse est arrivé, et le tissu rugueux de la tente tremble sous sa force. j'entends les vagues cinglantes gifler la grève , comme un reproche. Achille remue, et l'air remue avec lui, répandant la douce odeur musquée de son corps. Je pense que c'est ce qui va me manquer. Je pense que je me tuerai plutôt que de vivre ce manque et je me demande combien de temps il nous reste.

She demanded payment for it, in advance, in kind. Cows were not enough. A virgin priestess was required, human blood for human blood; the leader's eldest daughter would be best.

perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.

The world around me narrowed to the pounding of my feet, and the next dusty length of road.

Presto lui sarà di ritorno e Agamennone sarà costretto inginocchiarsi. Saranno di nuovo felici. Lo pensa ma non riesce a sentirlo.

Il disait ce qu'il pensait, et jugeait perturbant que son interlocuteur n'en fasse pas autant. Certains auraient pu se méprendre et le trouver simplet. Mais ceux qui vont toujours directement au cœur des choses ne possèdent-ils pas une sorte de génie?

As it turned out, I did kill pigs that

Almost, I can imagine that this is my life, held in the sweet circle of her arms. I would marry her, and we would have a child. Perhaps if I had never known Achilles.

Achille fa scattare la mano per agguantare la spada e tagliarsi la gola. È solo quando la solleva vuota che ricorda: ha dato la spada a me.