Madeline Miller Quotes

“I found myself grinning until my cheeks hurt, my scalp prickling till I thought it might lift off my head. My tongue ran away from me, giddy with freedom. This, and this, and this, I said to him. I did not have to fear that I spoke too much. I did not have to worry that I was too slender, or too slow. This and this and this! I taught him how to skip stones, and he taught me how to carve wood. I could feel every nerve in my body, every brush of air against my skin.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I conjure the boy I knew. Achilles, grinning as the figs blur in his hands. His green eyes laughing into mine. Catch, he says. Achilles, outlined against the sky, hanging from a branch over the river. The thick warmth of his sleepy breath against my ear. If you have to go, I will go with you. My fears forgotten in the golden harbor of his arms.
The memories come, and come. She listens, staring into the grain of the stone. We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“Name one hero who was happy."
"You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward.
"I can't."
"I know. They never let you be famous AND happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret."
"Tell me." I loved it when he was like this.
"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”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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 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.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“They do not care if you are good. They barely care if you are wicked. The only thing that makes them listen is power.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“I will not sentence myself to such a living death.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“An ugly man, with a face sharp like a weasel and a habit of running a flickering tongue over his lips before he speaks. But most ugly of all are his eyes: blue, bright blue. When people see them, they flinch. Such things are freakish. He is lucky he was not killed at birth.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“As for the goddess' answer. I did not care. I would have no need of her. I did not plan to live after he was gone”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“The room turned gray, then white. The bed felt cold without him, and too large. I heard no sounds, and the stillness frightened me. It is like a tomb. I rose and rubbed my limbs, slapped them awake, trying to ward off a rising hysteria. This is what it will be, every day, without him.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I looked into his good face. Not good because it was handsome, but because it was itself...”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Useless information is my curse, I'm afraid”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“Do not listen to your enemy...look at them. It will tell you everything.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Sometimes you must be content with ignorance”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“W otchłani dwa cienie przedzierają się po omacku przez gęsty, dławiący mrok. Ich ręce odnajdują się i światło spływa potokiem jak sto złotych urn, z których sypie się słońce.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“Обикалях вече земята от сто поколения, но в душата си бях все още дете. Ярост, мъка, потиснато желание, сласт и самосъжаление - боговете познават добре тези чувства. Но вината, срамът, угризението и раздвоението на чувствата са ни непознати и ние ги учим стъпка по стъпка.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Deli olmayan bütün varlıkların arkadaşa ihtiyacı vardır.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Yüreklerimizde gerçekten ne olduğu bilinseydi kaçımız affedilirdi?”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Ama yalnız bir yaşamda, başka bir ruhun sizinkinin yanına damladığı ender anlar vardır, yıldızların senede bir defa yeryüzüne sürünüp geçmesi gibi.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“İki çocuğu vardı. İkisini de açıkça görememişti. Ama belki de hiçbir anne baba evladını gerçekten göremez. Baktığımızda sadece kendi hatalarımızın bir yansımasını görüyoruz.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“Düşmanını dinleme, demişti Odysseus bir keresinde bana. Onlara bak.Gördüklerin her şeyi anlatacaktır.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe