630 Quotes by Madeline Miller

It was true. Odysseus’ favorite task was the sort that only had to be performed once: raiding a town, defeating a monster, finding a way inside an impenetrable city.

Does no one have the courage? Will no one dare to face me?

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.

She wears a cape, and it is this that undoes her – that allows her to be pulled, limbs light and poised as a cat, from her horse.

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

Circe was the first word he ever spoke, and the second was sister.

He is giving a show, I know, of grace, of tolerance, and my teeth clench at the calmness in his tone. He likes this image of himself, the wronged young man, stoically accepting the theft of his prize, a martyrdom for the whole camp to see.

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.

The earth seemed to echo where I walked. Above me the sky stretched out its empty hands.