T > T's Quotes

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

“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.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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.”

My scalp prickled where his fingers had been. “You haven’t,” I said.

“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?”

“No,” I said.

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

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

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

“You have.”

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

“You did not.”

“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.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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?”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I would still be with you. But I could sleep outside, so it would not be so obvious. I do not need to attend your councils. I—'
'No. The Phthians will not care. And the others can talk all they like. I will still be Aristos Achaion.' Best of the Greeks.
'Your honor could be darkened by it."
'Then it is darkened.' His jaw shot forward, stubborn. 'They are fools if they let my glory rise or fall on this.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“He did not fear ridicule, he had never known it.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“There was nothing clever to say, so I said something foolish.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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.
After they were gone, Achilles would shake his head. 'I don't know how you remember them all. I swear they look the same to me.'
I would laugh and point them out again. 'That's Sthenelus, Diomedes' charioteer. And that's Podarces, whose brother was the first to die, remember?'
'There are too many of them,' he said. 'It's simpler if they just remember me.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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.

"Get away from him," he says.

"I am almost finished. He does not deserve to lie in filth."

"I would not have your hands on him."

Her eyes are sharp with tears. "Do you think you are the only one who loved him?"

"Get out. Get out!"

"You care more for him in death than in life." Her voice is bitter with grief. "How could you have let him go? You knew he could not fight!"

Achilles screams, and shatters a serving bowl. "Get out!"

Briseis does not flinch. "Kill me. It will not bring him back. He was worth ten of you. Ten! And you sent him to his death!"

The sound that comes from him is hardly human. "I tried to stop him! I told him not to leave the beach!"

"You are the one who made him go." Briseis steps towards him. "He fought to save you, and your darling reputation. Because he could not bear to see you suffer!"

Achilles buries his face in his hands. But she does not relent. "You have never deserved him. I do not know why he ever loved you. You care only for yourself!"

Achilles' gaze lifts to meet hers. She is afraid, but does not draw back. "I hope that Hector kills you."

The breath rasps in his throat. "Do you think I do not hope the same?" he asks.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“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.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“Sometimes, grief seizes me in a violent grip, and when it does, I almost double over in pain. I pause, breathe, try to release the image of how my life was meant to be. It doesn't matter what was destines; it only matters what actually happened. That's what I tell myself.”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“You know my parents are all about, like, being special. Doing something big. They always act like Jacob’s this… distraction. Like I should be friends with more important people. They like Zoe. She’s somebody.”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“I’d never do that.” The fact that he thinks I’d out him hurts. He knows I’m queer. It reminds me how little I actually know Eddie. He plays his cards very close to the vest. Jacob’s always been the one who helps him open up around us, who can access the funny parts of him. But now…”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“Beneath it, I feel a twinge of resentment. Sometimes she makes everything such a production, even when it’s completely unnecessary, engineering situations so she’s always on center stage. What does that make me? Set dressing?”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“But in reality, there’s no romance in a crime of passion. There’s just the ending of a life, small and quiet, and the broken people who get left behind.”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“You say you want me to *be somebody*, but, like, we're all just people. Eveeryone is somebody. I--I didn't think you'd approve because you're always telling me I need to be around the kind of people who can help me get ahead.”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“I felt like, how did I even get to this point where my entire life is tied up in this one person? If you and I decide to be together and then we break up, I don't just lose you. I lose your dad. I lose my place to go that isn't my empty house. I'll have to hide all our stuff in a box, shut my memories of you away.”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“But no matter what happens with me and you, as long as my dad is alive and you want him in your life, he's going to be there. You won't lose him. And I'd never keep him from you out of spite.”
― Wendy Heard, We'll Never Tell

“Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow
Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead
Walk beside me… just be my friend”
― Albert Camus