More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I sometimes hold it half a sin To put in words the grief I feel; For words, like Nature, half reveal And half conceal the Soul within.
I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; ’Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all …
My argument with so much of psychoanalysis is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness. When in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people’s suffering.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, And the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, If you do not carry them within your soul, If your soul does not set them up before you.
‘Thanks a lot,’ Henry said sarcastically. ‘Cheers, mate. Much appreciated.’ Mariana tried to explain there had been an emergency, but he wasn’t interested. Like a child, Henry could only see his own needs being frustrated, and his only interest was in punishing her.
‘It’s set in Athens,’ Clarissa said, reaching for her pipe. ‘King Demophon is preparing for war, to protect the city against the Mycenaeans.’ She wedged the pipe in the corner of her mouth, struck a match, and relit it. She spoke between puffs. ‘Demophon consults the oracle … to find out his chances of success … The quotation comes from that part of the play.’
“The oracles agree: in order to defeat the enemy and save the city … a maiden must be sacrificed – a maiden of noble birth—”’
‘A noble maiden must be sacrificed to the daughter of Demeter – to Persephone, that is.’
‘Persephone was rather a vengeful goddess, as I’m sure you know.’
The perfect plot, accordingly, must have a single, and not (as some tell us) a double issue; the change in the hero’s fortunes must be not from misery to happiness, but on the contrary from happiness to misery; and the cause of it must lie not in any depravity, but in some great error on his part.
Her eyes were gouged out before she was stabbed to death.’ ‘Poor Lucy.’ ‘Quite. Hence patron saint of the blind. She’s usually depicted like this, carrying her eyes on a platter.’ Clarissa turned the postcard over. Her lips moved silently as she read the lines in Greek under her breath. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘this time, it’s from Iphigenia in Aulis, by Euripides.’ ‘What does it say?’ ‘It’s about Iphigenia being led to her death.’ Clarissa took a gulp of wine, and translated it. ‘“Behold the maiden … with garlands in her hair, and holy water sprinkled upon her … walking to the sacrificial altar of
...more
The childhood shows the man, As morning shows the day.
It’s horrible watching your mother cry. You feel so impotent, so powerless.
Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind, And makes it fearful and degenerate; Think therefore on revenge, and cease to weep.
