400 Best The Song of Achilles Quotes by Madeline Miller (2023)

1. “I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

2. “Who was he if not destined for fame?”

3. “There was more to say, but for once, we did not say it. There would be other times for speaking, tonight and tomorrow and all the days after that. ” ― Madeline Miller

4. “He smiled, and his face was like the sun. ” ― Madeline Miller

5. “The flames surround me, and I feel myself slipping further from life, thinning to only the faintest shiver in the air. I yearn for the darkness and silence of the underworld, where I can rest.”

6. “My fears forgotten in the golden harbour of his arms.”

7. “He paused now, considering. I loved this about him. No matter how many times I had asked, he answered me as if it were the first time.”

8. “What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another. We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory. ” ― Madeline Miller

9. “Our men liked conquest; they did not trust a man who was conquered himself”

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

11. “You did not.”

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

13. “I thought if someone like that ever loved me, it would set me on fire.”

14. “He is lost in Agamemnon and Odysseus' wily double meanings, their lies and games of power. They have confounded him, tied him to a stake and baited him. I stroke the soft skin of his forehead. I would untie him if I could. If he would let me.”

15. “Name one hero who was happy. ” ― Madeline Miller

16. “Peleus acknowledged this. "Yet other boys will be envious that you have chosen such a one. What will you tell them?"

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

18. “Pride became us—heroes were never modest.”

19. “I am air and thought and can do nothing.”

20. “Puoi usare una spada come un bastone da passeggio, tuttavia ciò non cambia la sua natura.”

21. “Our men liked conquest; they did not trust a man who was conquered himself.”

22. “There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.”

23. “Above us, the constellations spun, and the moon paved her weary course.”

24. “Perhaps,” Achilles admitted.

25. “and where there was greed there was hope.”

26. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from."

27. “He did not fear ridicule, he had never known it.”

28. “This was a man who moved like the gods were watching: every gesture he made was upright and correct. There was no one else it could be but Hector”

29. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.”

30. “It turned out that she did know a little Greek. A few words that her father had picked up and taught her when he heard the army was coming. Mercy was one. Yes and please and what do you want? A father, teaching his daughter how to be a slave.”

31. “There is no one like you," I said, at last.

32. “It will never be enough,” he says.

33. “I am made of memories.”

34. Name one hero who was happy. – Achilles

35. “She thought that she had power to drive a wedge between us, but she had nothing.”

36. “I gaped at the cold shock of his beauty, deep-green eyes, features fine as a girl's. It struck from me a sudden, springing dislike. I had not changed so much, nor so well.”

37. This will be the greatest war of our people, remembered in legend and song for generations. You are a fool not to see it. – Diomedes

38. “Achilles’ eyes lift. They are bloodshot and dead. “I wish he had let you all die.”

39. “And you think to steal time from the Fates?”

40. “This was the cruelty of adults. Do you understand?”

41. “Achilles' eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark, or disguise. I told myself. I would know it even in madness.”

42. “I think: this is what I will miss. I think: I will kill myself rather than miss it. I think: how long do we have?”

43. He is half of my soul, as the poets say. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. – Patroclus

44. “And what of this?” His hand lingered over my hips, drew down the line of my thigh. “Have I spoken of it?”

45. “Your loss," Odysseus called after him. "Don't mind him. His wife's a hellhound bitch, and that would sour anyone's temper. Now, my wife-----"

46. “I can smell him. The oils that he uses on his feet, pomegranate and sandalwood; the salt of clean sweat; the hyacinths we had walked through, their scent crushed against our ankles. Beneath it all is his own smell, the one I go to sleep with, the one I wake up to.”

47. “I have heard that men who live by a waterfall cease to hear it—in such a way did I learn to live beside the rushing torrent if his doom.”

48. “He weeps as he lifts me into our bed. My corpse sags; it's warm in the tent, and the smell will come soon. He does not seem to care. He holds me all night long, pressing my cold hands to his mouth.”

49. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me. ” ― Madeline Miller

50. “One morning, I woke to find Chiron gone. This was not unusual. He often rose before we did, to milk the goats or pick fruits for breakfast. I left the cave so that Achilles”

51. You are a fool not to see it. – Diomedes

52. “At first it is strange. I am used to keeping him from her, to hoarding him for myself. But the memories well up like spring-water, faster than I can hold them back. They do not come as words, but like dreams, rising as scent from the rain-wet earth. This, I say. This and this. The way his hair looked in the summer sun. His face when he ran. His eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. This and this and this.”

53. “When he speaks at last, his voice is weary, and defeated. He doesn’t know how to be angry with me, either. We are like damp wood that won’t light.”

54. “I let him hold me, let him press us length to length so close that nothing might fit between us.”

55. “He knew, but it was not enough. The sorrow was so large it threatened to tear through my skin. When he died, all things swift and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”

56. “He was spring. golden and bright. Envious Death would drink his blood, and grow young again.”

57. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.”

58. “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. I”

59. “Divine blood purified our muddy race, bred heroes from dust and clay.”

60. “Later Achilles would play the lyre, as Chiron and I listened. My mother’s lyre. He had brought it with him.

61. “We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.”

62. “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”

63. “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.

64. 'What do you want?''

65. “Divine blood flows differently in each god-born child. Orpheus’ voice made the trees weep, Heracles could kill a man by clapping him on the back. Achilles’ miracle was his speed.”

66. “It was easy to see how such lovely things might become songs.”

67. “Ah.” A sly smile spread across his face; he had always loved defiance. “Well, why should I kill him? He’s done nothing to me.”

68. ‘I almost did not come, because I did not want to believe it.’ He smiled. ‘Now I know how to make you follow me everywhere.”

69. “For who can be ashamed to lose to such beauty?”

70. “There is this too.” His hand was ceaseless now. “I know I have told you of this.”

71. “Maybe her gods are kinder than ours, and she will find rest”

72. “But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important. ” ― Madeline Miller

73. “The rosy gleam of his lip, the fevered gleam of his eyes. There was not a line anywhere on his face, nothing creased or graying; all crisp. He was spring, golden and bright. Envious death would drink his blood, and grow young again.”

74. “There was no blood on his hands then, and no death sentence on his head. Another life.”

75. “Success in such a war as this comes only through men sewn to a single purpose, funnelled to a single spear thrust rather than a thousand needle-pricks.”

76. “Achilles weeps. He craddles me, and will not eat, nor speak a word other than my name. I see his face as if through water, as a fish sees the sun. His tears fall, but I cannot wipe them away. This is my element now, the half-life of the unburied spirit.”

77. “What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another. We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory… We are men only, a brief flare of the torch.”

78. “There was more to say, but for once we did not say it. There would be other times for speaking, tonight and tomorrow and all the days after that. He let go of my hand.”

79. “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 the sun.”

80. “Maybe her gods are kinder than ours, and she will find rest. I would give my life again to make it so”

81. “I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness”

82. “I am no coward". My voice rose, and my skin went hoy.

83. “Patroclus. I have given enough to them. I will not give them this.”

84. “There are many ways to start a war. I always think raiding makes a good beginning. It accomplishes almost the same thing as diplomacy, but with greater profit.”

85. “Philtatos,” Achilles says, sharply. Most beloved.

86. “It was not murder that exiled me, it was my lack of cunning.”

87. “and when he moved it was like watching oil spread across a lake, smooth and fluid, almost vicious”

88. “But when I tried to speak them, I found I could not. His cheeks were flushed with shame, and the skin beneath his eyes was weary. His trust was a part of him, as much as his hands or his miraculous feet. And despite my hurt, I would not wish to see it gone, to see him as uneasy and fearful as the rest of us, for any price.”

89. “I wanted to wake him and see those eyes open. A thousand thousand times I had seen it, but I never tired of it.”

90. “For the longest time, I’ve had this idea in my head that never seemed to leave - to start a Big Queer Book Club,” said Matt.

91. “I will go,” he said. “I will go to Troy.”

92. “Are you sorry?''

93. “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.”

94. “Patroclus,' he said. He was always better with words than I.”

95. We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence. – Patroclus

96. So easy to bear it was laughable. – Patroclus

97. “I feel like I could eat the world raw.”

98. “Because you're the reason. Swear it.”

99. “There was nothing clever to say, so I said something foolish.”

100. “My chest trilled with something I could not quite name. Escape, and danger, and hope all at once.”

101. “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.

102. The pain was welcome, ordinary and clean. So easy to bear it was laughable. – Patroclus

103. “When he smiled, the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled like a leaf held to flame.”

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

105. “FOR THE FIRST TIME since my death, he falls into a fitful, trembling sleep. Achilles. I cannot bear to see you grieving. His limbs twitch and shudder. Give us both peace. Burn me and bury me. I will wait for you among the shades. I will— But already he is waking. “Patroclus! Wait! I am here!” He shakes the body beside him. When I do not answer, he weeps again.”

106. For a prince there was no choice. You warred and won, or warred and died. – Patroclus

107. “At first it is strange. I am used to keeping him from her, to hoarding him for myself. But the memories well up like springwater, faster than I can hold them back. They do not come as words, but like dreams, rising as scent from the rain-wet earth. This, I say. This and this. The way his hair looked in summer sun. His face when he ran. His eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. This and this and this. So many moments of happiness, crowding forward.”

108. “Sometimes you must be content with ignorance”

109. “I could not make him a god," she says. Her jagged voice, rich with grief.

110. “Briseis is kneeling by my body. She has brought water and cloth, and washes the blood and dirt from my skin. Her hands are gentle, as though she washes a baby, not a dead thing. Achilles opens the tent, and their eyes meet over my body.

111. “I learned to sleep during the day so that I would not be tired when he returned; he always needed to talk then, to tell me down to the last detail about the faces and the wounds and the movements of men. And I wanted to be able to listen, to digest the bloody images, to paint them flat and unremarkable onto the vase of posterity. To release him from it and make him Achilles again.”

112. “Our goddess of the moon is gifted with magic, with power over the dead. She could banish the dreams if she wished. She did not.”

113. “Our ragged alliance prevailed only when no man was allowed to be too much more power than another.”

114. “Our mouths opened under each other, and the warmth of his sweetened throat poured into mine. I could not think, could not do anything but drink him in, each breath as it came, the soft movements of his lips. It was a miracle.”

115. “The boy’s family demanded immediate exile or death. They were powerful, and this was their eldest son. They might permit a king to burn their fields, or rape their daughters, as long as payment was made. But you did not touch a man’s son. For this, the nobles would riot. We all knew the rules; we clung to them to avoid the anarchy that was always a hair’s breadth away.”

116. “I have given enough to them. I will not give them this.”

117. “I would wake, choking on my horror, and stare at the darkness until dawn.”

118. “We obey our kings, but only within reason.”

119. “I wish he had let you all die”

120. “In our stories these divinities had to work by wheedling and flattery, by favors won from stronger gods. They could not do much themselves. Except live, forever.”

121. “This is how I think of us, when I remember our nights at Troy: Achilles and I beside each other, Phoinix smiling and Automedon stuttering through the punch lines of jokes, and Briseis with her secret eyes and quick, spilling laughter.”

122. “Indeed, he seemed utterly unaware of his effect on the boys around him.”

123. “Achilles makes a sound like choking. “There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.” His spearpoint flies in a dark whirlwind, bright as the evening-star, to catch the hollow at Hector’s throat.”

124. “I listened and did not speak. Achilles' eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness.”

125. “For me, what really made this an emotionally wrenching (yet satisfying) experience is the way that Miller manages to capture the visceral and intense nature of same-sex desire between men. Even now, when queer representation is better than it has been in ages past, there is something uniquely powerful about reading a book that really seems to get it.”

126. “They leaned towards him, like flowers to the sun, drinking in his luster. It was as Odysseus had said: he had light enough to make heroes of them all.”

127. “He landed, and the weapons were already lifted, held with a deadly poise that was like no girl, nor no man either. The greatest warrior of his generation.”

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

129. “Will you come with me?' he asked. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone. But not in this one. He would sail to troy and I would follow, even into death.”

130. “The door snicked shut.”

131. “The ship's boards were still sticky with new resin. We leaned over the railing to wave our last farewell, the sun-warm wood pressed against our bellies. The sailors heaved up the anchor, square and chalky with barnacles, and loosened the sails. Then they took their seats at the oars that fringed the boat like eyelashes, waiting for the count. The drums began to beat, and the oars lifted and fell, taking us to Troy.”

132. “No,” I said.

133. “It was almost like fear, in the way it filled me, rising in my chest. It was almost like tears, in how swiftly it came.”

134. “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.”

135. “Achilles’ eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know is in dark or disguise, told myself. I would know it even in madness.”

136. “Name one hero who was happy. You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward. He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret. 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 for a moment, hands touching. He grinned. "I feel like I could eat the world raw.”

137. “Will you come with me?” he asked. The never-ending ache of love and sorrow. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone. But not in this one. He would sail to Troy and I would follow, even into death. “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes.” Relief broke in his face, and he reached for me. I let him hold me, let him press us length to length so close that nothing might fit between us. Tears came, and fell. Above us, the constellations spun and the moon paced her weary course. We lay stricken and sleepless as the hours passed.”

138. “Have you no more memories?' I am made of memories. The memories come, and come. We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.”

139. “Os encomiendo una misión para después de mi muerte: mezclar nuestras cenizas y enterrarnos juntos.”

140. “That’s the strangest of all. I look down at his blood and know my death is coming. But in the dream I do not mind. What I feel, most of all, is relief.”

141. “No one would remember his glory, or his honesty, or his beauty; all his gold would be turned to ashes and ruin.”

142. “He looked different in sleep, beautiful but cold as moonlight. I found myself wishing he would wake so that I might watch the life return.”

143. “Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free. His ashes settle among mine, and I feel nothing.”

144. “If you have to go, you know I will go with you." We slept.”

145. “And perhaps you should get some new stories, so I don’t fucking kill myself of boredom.”

146. “I could have stopped them," he said. The skin of his face was very pale; his voice was hoarse. "I was close enough. I could have saved her."

147. “We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence.”

148. “We reached for each other and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake in this room loving him in silence.”

149. “She did.”

150. “This, I say. This and this. The way his hair looked in summer sun. His face when he ran. His eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. This and this and this. So many moments of happiness, crowding forward.”

151. ‘I wish I had known,’ I said, the first day when he showed it to me.

152. “They gave her to a mortal, trying to shackle the child's power. Dilute him with humanity, diminish him.”

153. “Patroclus,” he said. He was always better with words than I.”

154. “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. A C H I L L E S, it reads. It will stand for him, and speak to all who pass: he lived and died, and lives again in memory.”

155. “Wealth and reputation were the things our people had always killed for.”

156. “There is no answer. Whichever you choose, you are wrong.”

157. “A C H I L L E S, it reads. And beside it, P A T R O C L U S.”

158. “He is half of my soul, as the poets say. ” ― Madeline Miller

159. “I thought of how many nights I had lain awake in this room loving him in silence.

160. “Achilles weeps. He cradles me, and will not eat, nor speak a word other than my name.”

161. “When I am dead, I charge you to mingle our ashes and bury us together.”

162. “We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory.”

163. “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?”

164. I will kill you and eat you raw. – Achilles

165. “Our world was one of blood, and the honor it won; only cowards did not fight. For a prince there was no choice. You warred and won, or warred and died.”

166. “As for the goddess’s answer, I did not care. I would have no need of her. I did not plan to live after he was gone.”

167. “It is right to seek peace for the dead. You and I both know there is no peace for those who live after.”

168. “I know, now, how I would answer Chiron. I would say: there is no answer. Whichever you choose, you are wrong.”

169. “And I wanted to be able to listen, to digest the bloody images, to paint them flat and unremarkable onto the vase of posterity. To release him from it and make him Achilles again.”

170. “Divine blood flows differently in each god-born child.”

171. “I stopped watching for ridicule, the scorpion’s tail hidden in his words. He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?”

172. “A surety rose in me, lodged in my throat. I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.”

173. “...all the grace I saw then was his own: simple, unadorned, glorious.”

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

175. “She wants you to be a god," I told him.

176. “Bring him back to me,' he told them.”

177. “There is no honour in betraying your friends.”

178. “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?”

179. ‘I wish I had known,’ I said, the first day when he showed it to me. – Patroclus

180. “Priam's eyes find the other body, mine, lying on the bed. He hesitates a moment. 'That is --- your friend?'

181. “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. ACHILLES, it reads. And beside it, PATROCLUS.

182. “May I give you some advice? If you are truly his friend, you will help him leave this soft heart behind. He’s going to Troy to kill men, not rescue them.” His dark eyes held me like swift-running current. “He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.”

183. “Growing up in North Carolina, I didn’t have much access to queer books, or even when I did, I didn’t have anyone around me to connect with about them,” Matt continued. “If I can provide a space to just a couple of queer kids & adults, where they can share the latest queer books they’re reading or just connect over our shared experiences, then I’ve done something that I truly wish I had as a kid growing up in the south of the US,” he concluded.

184. “Achilles' eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness.”

185. “She's like cream, she's that soft.

186. “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?”

187. “Yes.”

188. “Achilles was looking at me. “Your hair never quite lies flat, here.” He touched my head, just behind my ear. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how I like it.”

189. “Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.”

190. “The sorrow was so large it threatened to tear through my skin. When he died, all things swift and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”

191. “In the huge hall, his beauty shone like a flame, vital and bright, drawing my eye against my will. ”

192. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me. If I had had words to speak such a thing, I would have. But there were none that seemed big enough for it, to hold that swelling truth.”

193. “OUR FRIENDSHIP CAME ALL AT ONCE AFTER THAT, LIKE spring floods from the mountains.”

194. “You have killed him and taken your vengeance. It is enough.”

195. “His eyes were unwavering, green flecked with gold. A surety rose in me, lodged in my throat. I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.”

196. “The yearning for him is like hunger, hollowing me.”

197. “I had seen the way [Achilles] looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phthia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.”

198. “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 salt. It was enough.”

199. “Yes,” I said.

200. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature. -Odysseus

201. “If you think about quintessential queer books that everyone should read at least once, ‘The Song of Achilles’ is at the top of that list,” says Matt Benfield, founder of the Big Queer Book Club on Fable.

202. “I had known contentment before, brief snatches of time in which I pursued solitary pleasure: skipping stones or dicing or dreaming. But in truth, it had been less a presence than an absence, a laying aside of dread:”

203. “And you think that no one but me can kill Hector.'

204. “Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.”

205. “He smiled at me, and I saw the lines where other smiles had been.”

206. “En la oscuridad, dos figuras alargan los brazos a través de una penumbra espesa y penosa. Y cuando las manos se tocan, se derrama la luz de cien urnas doradas, por las que el sol parece salir a borbotones.”

207. “There was violence in that room, with so many princes and heroes and kings competing for a single prize, but we knew how to ape civilization.”

208. “I feel like I could eat the world raw. ” ― Madeline Miller

209. “Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that I felt anything at all.”

210. “His trust was a part of him, as much as his hands or his miraculous feet. And despite my hurt, I would not wish to see it gone, to see him as uneasy and fearful as the rest of us, for any price.”

211. “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... We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory. Who knows? Perhaps one day I will be famous. Perhaps more famous than you... We are men only. A brief flare of the torch. Those to come may raise us or lower us as they please.”

212. Our world was one of blood, and the honor it won; only cowards did not fight. For a prince there was no choice. You warred and won, or warred and died. – Patroclus

213. “Yet Hector eludes him, weaving through the chariots and men with the luck of the gods. No one calls it cowardice that he runs. He will not live if he is caught. He is wearing Achilles' own armor, the unmistakable phoenix breastplate taken from beside my corpse. The men stare as the two pass; it looks, almost, as if Achilles is chasing himself.”

214. “There is this, too.” His hand was ceaseless now. “I know I have told you of this.” I closed my eyes. “Tell me again,” I said.”

215. “Tears came, and fell. Above us, the constellations spun, and the moon paced her weary course.”

216. “Somewhere his soul waits, but it is nowhere I can reach. Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.”

217. 'I am not.'' The answer was sure, immediate.

218. “Do not let what you gained this day be so easily lost.' - Chiron”

219. “He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?”

220. “Perhaps one day even I will be famous. Perhaps more famous than you.”

221. “You are a better man than I.”

222. “He was on his side, watching me. I had not heard him turn. I never hear him. He was utterly motionless, that stillness that was his alone. I breathed, and was aware of the bare stretch of dark pillow between us.

223. “He is such a flood, I thought”

224. “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 of a rising hysteria. This is what it will be, every day, without him. I felt a wild-eyed tightness in my chest, like a scream. Every day, without him.”

225. “Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart? O”

226. “He is half of my soul,”

227. “The never ending ache of love and sorrow”

228. “Later, Achilles pressed close for a final, drowsy whisper. 'If you have to go, you know I will go with you.' We slept.”

229. “The sound was pure and sweet as water, bright as lemons.”

230. “You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.”

231. “Even here, behind the darkness of my eyelids, I cannot name the thing I hope for.”

232. “I forget about the god, why I have fallen, why my feet stick in the same crevices I have already climbed. Perhaps this is all I do, I think, demented -- climb walls and fall from them. And this time when I look up, the god is not smiling.”

233. “Do not let what you gained this day be so easily lost.”

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

235. “I found myself wishing he would wake so that I might watch the life return. ” ― Madeline Miller

236. “Are you frightened?" I asked. The first call of a nightingale in the trees at our backs.

237. “But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart? ”

238. “It was a strange war. No territory was gained, no prisoners were taken. It was for honor only, man against man.”

239. “You and I both know there is no peace for those who live after. ” ― Madeline Miller

240. “You do not command me. The silence went on and on, painful and breathless, like a singer overreaching to finish a phrase. Then,”

241. “Above us, the constellations spun and the moon paced her weary course.”

242. “But you were the one who really taught him healing,' Achilles said.

243. He will be dead soon, and his honor is all that will remain. – Patroclus

244. “That is — your friend?"

245. “We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.”

246. “The beginning of hope. We have given each other wounds, but they are not mortal.”

247. “In the silence, I can hear Phoinix’s breaths, labored with the exertion of speaking so long. I do not dare to speak or move; I am afraid that someone will see the thought that is plain on my face. It was not honor that made Meleager fight, or his friends, or victory, or revenge, or even his own life. It was Cleopatra, on her knees before him, her face streaked with tears. Here is Phoinix’s craft: Cleopatra, Patroclus. Her name built from the same pieces as mine, only reversed.”

248. “What has Hector ever done to me?”

249. “Exile might satisfy the anger of the living, but it did not appease the dead.”

250. “His eyelids were the color of the dawn sky; he smelled like earth after rain.”

251. “Aristos Achaion.” Best of the Greeks.”

252. “But then he was awake, his lips forming a half-sleepy greeting, and his hand was already reaching for mine. We lay there, like that, until the cave was bright with morning, and Chiron called.

253. “What had Deidameia thought would happen, I wondered, when she had her women dance for me? Had she really thought I would not know him? I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

254. “Have you no more memories?"

255. “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.”

256. “I have heard that men who live by a waterfall cease to hear it—in such a way did I learn to live beside the rushing torrent of his doom.”

257. “That you have told me.” My breath caught a little as I spoke.

258. “It was almost like fear, in the way it filled me, rising in my chest. It was almost like tears, in how swiftly it came. But it was neither of those, buoyant where they were heavy, bright were they dull.”

259. “I turn to look at him. His face is smooth, without the blotches and spots that have begun to afflict the other boys. His features are drawn with a firm hand; nothing awry or sloppy, nothing too large—all precise, cut with the sharpest of knives. And yet the effect itself is not sharp. He turns and finds me looking at him. “What?” he says. “Nothing.” I can smell him. The oils that he uses on his feet, pomegranate and sandalwood; the salt of clean sweat; the hyacinths we had walked through, their scent crushed against our ankles. Beneath it all is his own smell, the one I go to sleep with, the one I wake up to. I cannot describe it. It is sweet, but not just. It is strong but not too strong. Something like almond, but that still is not right. Sometimes, after we have wrestled, my own skin smells like it. He puts a hand down, to lean against. The muscles in his arms 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 looked 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. He watches me. It seems that he is waiting. I shift, an infinitesimal movement, towards him. It is like the leap from a waterfall. I do not know, until then, what I am going to do. I lean forward and our lips land clumsily on each other. They are like the fat bodies of bees, soft and round and giddy with pollen. I can taste his mouth—hot and sweet with honey from dessert. My stomach trembles, and a warm drop of pleasure spreads beneath my skin. More.”

260. “The voices of the dead were said to have the power to make the living mad.”

261. “I thought of how many nights I had lain awake in this room, loving him in silence”

262. “And this? Surely I would not have forgotten this.” His cat’s smile. “Tell me I did not.”

263. “Se inclinó hacia mí, envuelto en bronce, oliendo a sudor, cuero y metal. Cerré los ojos al sentir sobre mis labios los suyos, la única parte aún suave de Aquiles. Después de marcho.”

264. “He collects my ashes himself, though this is a women's duty. He puts them in a golden urn, the finest in our camp, and turns to the watching Greeks.

265. “I am air and thought and can do nothing”

266. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me”

267. “We were silent a moment. 'So, which of the suitors would you have picked?' I shoved him, and he laughed”

268. “True is what men believe, and they believe this of you.”

269. “I began to suprise Achilles, calling out to these men as we walked through the camp. I was always gratified at how they would raise a hand in return, point to a scar that had healed over well.

270. “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.”

271. “There is no one like you" I said, at last.

272. “It was spring, and we were surrounded by the profusion of Anatolian fertility. For three weeks the earth would paint herself in every color, burst every bud, unfurl each rioting petal. Then, the wild flush of her excitement spent, she would settle down to the steady work of summer. It was my favorite time of year.”

273. “It seemed absurd even to think of it, foolish and improbable as a dream is by dinner.”

274. “There is no shortage of selections for future reads, and all of them will be either written by queer authors and have queer characters and queer-focused storylines,” he concluded.

275. “Achilles makes a sound like choking. “There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.”

276. “Maybe her gods are kinder than ours, and she will find rest.”

277. There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw. – Achilles

278. “When at last they pulled off the veil, they say my mother smiled. That is how they knew she was quite stupid. Brides did not smile.”

279. “Name one hero who was happy.”

280. “Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that I felt anything at all. The sudden swoop of my stomach, the coursing anger. I was like a fish eyeing the hook.”

281. “Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. "No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.”

282. “I haunt their dreams. Do not leave, I beg them. Not until you have given me peace. But if anyone hears, they do not answer.”

283. “Some had a whole epic, others just a verse”

284. “We are men only, a brief flare of the torch. Those to come may raise us or lower us as they please.”

285. “He showed me his scars, and in return he let me pretend I had none.”

286. “I'm going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it."

287. “And you think to steal time from the Fates?” “Yes.” “Ah.” A sly smile spread across his face; he had always loved defiance. “Well, why should I kill him? He’s done nothing to me.” For the first time then, I felt a kind of hope.”

288. “Me bastaba un simple roce o el olor para identificarle, y si me quedara ciego, podría reconocerle por el modo en que respiraba o en que pisaba el suelo. Le reconocería en el fin del mundo, incluso en la muerte.”

289. “My consolation is that we will be together in the underworld. That we will meet again there, if not in this life. I would not wish to be there without her.”

290. 'You.'' Always you.”

291. “I will wait for you among the shades.”

292. “Our goddess of the moon is gifted with magic, with power over the dead. She could banish the dreams, if she wished. She did not.”

293. “Everyone knew how they dripped with perfume, were corrupt from soft living.”

294. “He smiled, and his face was like the sun.”

295. “Her voice was low and lovely, carrying to every corner of the hall. "I do." It was all she said, but I felt the shiver go through the men around me. Even as a child I felt it, and I marveled at the power of this woman who, though veiled, could electrify a room. Her skin, we suddenly remembered, was rumored to be gilded, her eyes dark and shining as the slick obsidian that we traded our olives for. At that moment she was worth al the prizes in the center of the hall, and more. She was worth our lives.”

296. “I have no need to forgive you. You cannot offend me.”

297. “There is no law that gods must be fair.”

298. “Patroclus. I have given enough to them. I will not give them this.” After that, there was nothing more to say.”

299. “For people in the LGBTQ+ community, we sometimes don’t have the space available to us in the real world to connect with like-minded queer people. They just don’t exist for us most of the time. And throughout my time as a full-time content creator who focuses partly on sharing queer literature with my audience, I realized there was big potential to create this online space for queer people to discuss books written by LGBTQ+ authors and stories centered around LGBTQ+ characters.”

300. “You have.”

301. “With a roar he throws Antilochus from him, knocks down Menealus. He falls on the body. The knowledge rushes up in him, choking off breath. A scream comes, tearing its way out. And then another, and another. He seizes his hair in his hands and yanks it from his head. Golden strands dall onto the bloody corpse. Patroclus, he says, Patroclus. Patroclus. Over and over untill it is sound only. Somewhere Odysseus is kneeling, urging food and drink. A fierce red rage comes, and he almost kills him there. But he would have to let go of me. He cannot. He holds me so tightly i can feel the faint beat of his chest, like the wings of a moth. An echo, the last bit of spirit tethered to my body. A torment.”

302. “Strange that such a small kindness felt like grace.”

303. “The last thing I think is: Achilles.”

304. “As if he heard me, he smiled, and his face was like the sun.”

305. “If you have to go, you know I will go with you.”

306. “Will I feel his ashes as they fall against mine?”

307. “He waits for you.”

308. “I would be lying if I didn’t say I have a pages-long list on my notes of books I want to feature next,” says Matt. “The number of queer-focused books out there just keeps growing every day, and it’s tough to find time to read all of them!”

309. “The heat rose up my neck, wrapped fingers over my face. His hair fell around me, and I could smell nothing but him. The grain of his lips seemed to rest a hairsbreadth from mine.”

310. “I could have told him more, of the dreams that left me bleary and bloodshot, the almost-screams that scraped my throat as I swallowed them down. The way the stars turned and turned through the night above my unsleeping eyes.”

311. “He looked different in sleep, beautiful but cold as moonlight.”

312. “At least once a dinner he would turn and catch me before I could feign indifference. Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that I felt anything at all.”

313. “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.”

314. “Perhaps such things pass for virtue among the gods. But how is there glory in taking life? We die so easily. Would you make him another Pyrrhus? Let the stories of him be something more.”

315. “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?”

316. “The presence of the other boys did not comfort me; our dead come for their vengeance regardless if witnesses.”

317. “I understood now the disgust in my father's eye. His moron son, confessing all. I recalled how his jaw had hardened as I spoke. He does not deserve to be king.”

318. “The pain was welcome, ordinary, and clean. So easy to bear it was laughable.”

319. “Ah." A sly smile spread across his face; he had always loved defiance. "Well, why should I kill him? He's done nothing to me.”

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

321. “I shift, an infinitesimal movement, towards him. It is like the leap from a waterfall. I do not know, until then, what I am going to do.”

322. “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.”

323. “Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.”

324. You are a fool. Get down. Your half-wit death will not save him. – Thetis

325. “He was watching me closely, reading my face over and over, like a priest searching the auguries for an answer. I could see the slight line in his forehead that meant utmost concentration.

326. “Even the best iron grows brittle with too much beating”

327. “And then I remembered: he will never be old.”

328. “I have heard that men who live by a waterfall cease to hear it—”

329. “I almost did not come, because I did not want to leave it."

330. “I do not know this man, I think. He is no one I have ever seen before. My rage towards him is hot as blood. I will never forgive him. I imagine tearing down our tent, smashing the lyre, stabbing myself in the stomach and bleeding to death. I want to see his face broken with grief and regret. I want to shatter the cold mask of stone that has slipped down over the boy I knew.”

331. “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.”

332. “What had Deidameia thought would happen, I wondered, when she had her women dance for me? Had she really thought I would not know him? I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell, I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

333. “This is what Achilles will feel like when he is old. And then I remembered: he will never be old. ” ― Madeline Miller

334. “And you think that no one but me can kill Hector.”

335. “The never-ending ache of love and sorrow. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone. But not in this one. He would sail to Troy and I would follow, even into death.”

336. “This, and this and this. We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but each other.”

337. “I did not hear them. His presence was like a stone in my shoe, impossible to ignore.”

338. “If every soldier killed only those who’d personally offended him, we’d have no wars at all. Though maybe it’s not such a bad idea.”

339. “We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.”

340. “He is more worth to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else's friend and brother. So which life is more important?”

341. “This surely then.” His hand moved across the muscles of my chest; my skin warmed beneath it. “Have I told you of this?”

342. “Afterwards, when Agamemnon would ask him when he would confront the prince of Troy, he would smile his most guileless, maddening smile. “What has Hector ever done to me?”

343. “And as we swam, or played, or talked, a feeling would come. It was almost like fear, in the way it filled me, rising in my chest. It was almost like tears, in how swiftly it came. But it was neither of those, buoyant where they were heavy, bright where they were dull.”

344. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.

345. “I hope that Hector kills you.” The breath rasps in his throat. “Do you think I do not hope the same?” he asks.”

346. “I am made of memories. ” ― Madeline Miller

347. “You are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world and that, I believe, is why you’re in so much pain.”

348. “We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory. Who knows?”

349. “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.”

350. “She brought the whole urgent universe wherever she went, portents and angry deities and a thousand looming perils.”

351. “I doubt it.”

352. “Will you tell me who hurt you?

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

354. “He is worth more to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?”

355. “I find the folly of men amusing.”

356. “The never-ending ache of love and sorrow. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone. But not in this one. He would sail to Troy and I would follow, even into death. Yes, I whispered. Yes.”

357. “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.”

358. “We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence. ” ― Madeline Miller

359. “. . .nothing could eclipse the stain of his dirty, mortal mediocrity.”

360. “There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw. ” ― Madeline Miller

361. “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?”

362. “The word I use is hubris. Our word for arrogance that scrapes the stars, for violence and towering rage as ugly as the gods.”

363. “There was a vividness to him, even at rest, that made death and spirits seem foolish.”

364. “It was easy, in those moments, to forget that the war had not yet really begun.”

365. “−Di el nombre de un héroe que fuera feliz. No eres Capaz.

366. “Ever since I first heard the stories of the Trojan War, I have yearned to see Troy for myself, and this past spring, I was finally able to do so,” wrote Madeline Miller on her blog, sharing photos of her trip to the remains of the once great city.

367. “He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.”

368. “This and this and this.”

369. “Go,” she says. “He waits for you.”

370. “Name one hero who was happy. You can't.”

371. “But I would have the memory be worthy of the man.”

372. “My life is my reputation. It is all I have. I will not live much longer. Memory is all I can hope for.”

373. “But in truth, it had been less a presence than an absence, a laying aside of dread:”

374. “He was watching me, his eyes as deep as earth.

375. “I want-'' He stopped. Tore his fingers through his hair. ''Never mind what I want.''

376. “I should have.” His hand drifted down to the vee at the base of my throat, drew softly across the pulse. “What about this? Have I told you what I think of this, just here?”

377. “Do you think Aristos Achaion fights in hopeless wars?”

378. “We were fourteen, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are twenty-seven, they still feel too hard. ” ― Madeline Miller

379. “I would know him in death, at the end of the world. ” ― Madeline Miller

380. “All I saw was his beauty, his singing limbs, the quick flickering of his feet.”

381. “Aucun homme ne vaut plus qu’un autre, d’où qu’il vienne”

382. “He doesn’t know how to be angry with me, either. We are like damp wood that won’t light.”

383. “I think you know how to love better than any of us. That’s why you find it all so painful.”

384. “There was nothing in the world I wanted more than to know what he had not said.”

385. “A marriage for love, rare as cedars from the East.”

386. “His fingers touched the strings and all my thoughts were displaced. The sound was pure and sweet as water, bright as lemons. It was like no music I had ever heard before. It had warmth as a fire does, a texture and weight like polished ivory. It buoyed and soothed at once.”

387. “A surety rose in me, lodged in my throat. I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.” (The Song of Achilles Quotes)

388. “and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.”

389. “He is a mortal,” she says. “And mortals die.” “I am a mortal!” he screams. “What good is godhead, if it cannot do this? What good are you?”

390. “Name one hero who was happy. You can’t”

391. I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world. – Patroclus

392. “After that, I was craftier with my observation, kept my head down and my eyes ready to leap away. But he was craftier still. At least once a dinner he would turn and catch me before I could feign indifference. Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moments in my day that I felt anything at all. The sudden swoop of my stomach, the coursing anger. I was like a fish eyeing the hook.”

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

394. “If every soldier killed only those who'd personally offended him Peleides, we'd have no wars at all.”

395. “Will you come with me?” he asked.

396. “I clap my hands over my ears. The voices of the dead were said to have the power to make the living mad. I must not hear him speak.”

397. “I lay back and tried not to think of the minutes passing. Just yesterday we had a wealth of them. Now each was a drop of heartsblood lost.”

398. “Will I feel his ashes as they fall against mine? I think of the snowflakes on Pelion, cold on our red cheeks. The yearning for him is like hunger, hollowing me. 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.”

399. I would know him in death, at the end of the world. – Patroclus

400. “In grief, men must help each other, though they are enemies.”

401. 'I am not either.'' I could never be sorry about this, I could never regret you. I never wish to be parted from you, ever. For all my life and beyond to the end of all the world, I will never be parted from your side again.”

402. “What is more heroic than to fight for the honor of the most beautiful woman in the world, against the mightiest city of the East?”

403. “Name one hero who was happy."

404. “He was like a flame himself. He glittered, drew eyes. There was a glamour to him, even on waking, with his hair tousled and his face still muddled with sleep.”

405. “I thought this is what Achilles will feel like when he is old. And then I remembered: he will never be old”

406. “His presence was like a stone in my shoe, impossible to ignore.”

407. “Her mouth was a gash of red, like the torn-open stomach of a sacrifice, bloody and oracular. Behind it her teeth shone sharp and white as bone.”

408. “Success in such a war as this comes only through men sewn to a single purpose, funneled to a single spear thrust rather than a thousand needle-pricks.”

409. “When I am dead, I charge you to mingle our ashes and bury us together. ” ― Madeline Miller

410. Get down. Your half-wit death will not save him. – Thetis

411. “Did he know, or only guess at Achilles’ destiny? As he lay alone in his rose-colored cave, had some glimmer of prophecy come to him? Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.”

412. “The poets were always correct,'' I say softly. ''You are half my soul.”

413. And as we swam, or played, or talked, a feeling would come. It was almost like fear, in the way it filled me, rising in my chest. It was almost like tears, in how swiftly it came. But it was neither of those, buoyant where they were heavy, bright where they were dull. – Patroclus

414. “I did not plan to live after he was gone.”

415. “If I had had words to speak such a thing, I would have. But there were none that seemed big enough for it, to hold that swelling truth. As if he had heard me, he reached for my hand. I did not need to look; his fingers were etched into my memory, slender and petal-veined, strong and quick and never wrong. “Patroclus,” he said. He was always better with words than I.”

416. “I lay back and tried not to think of the minutes passing. Just yesterday we had a wealth of them. Now, each was a drop of heart’s blood lost.”

417. “The never-ending ache of love and sorrow.”

418. “I had seen the way he looked at Deidameia; or rather the way he did not. It was the same way he had looked at the boys in Phthia, blank and unseeing. He had never, not once, looked at me that way.”

419. “He is more worth to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?”

420. “My mind is filled with cataclysm and apocalypse: I wish for earthquakes, eruptions, flood. Only that seems large enough to hold all of my rage and grief. I want the world overturned like a bowl of eggs, smashed at my feet.”

421. “He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. ” ― Madeline Miller