Quotes By Author: Madeline Miller

“Odysseus inclines his head. “True. But fame is a strange thing. Some men gain glory after they die, while others fade. What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another.” He spread his broad hands. “We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory. Who knows?” He smiles. “Perhaps one day even I will be famous. Perhaps more famous than you.”

“That is — your friend?” “Philtatos,” Achilles replied, sharply. Most beloved.”

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

“Her only love was reason. And that has never been the same as wisdom.”

“Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.”“But what if he is your friend?” Achilles had asked him, feet kicked up on the wall of the rose-quartz cave. “Or your brother? Should you treat him the same as a stranger?”“You ask a question that philosophers argue over,” Chiron had said. “He is worth more to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?”We had been silent. We were fourteen, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are twenty-seven, they still feel too hard.He is half of my soul, as the poets say. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. It is his child, his dearest self. Should I reproach him for it? I have saved Briseis. I cannot save them all.I know, now, how I would answer Chiron. I would say: there is no answer. Whichever you choose, you are wrong.”

“He is half of my soul, as the poets say.”

“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.”

“I have done it,” she says. At first I do not understand. But then I see the tomb, and the marks she has made on the stone. A C H I L L E S, it reads. And beside it, P A T R O C L U S.”Go,” she says. “He waits for you.”In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.”

“When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”

“In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.”

“Name one hero who was happy.”I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason’s children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus’ back.”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,” I said, lost in the high color of his cheeks, the flame in his eyes.”I swear it,” he echoed.We sat like that a moment, hands touching. He grinned.”I feel like I could eat the world raw.”