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The Friend
by
I don’t like men who leave behind them a trail of weeping women, said W. H. Auden. Who would have hated you.
“If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?”
― A Brief History of Time
― A Brief History of Time
“For Rephaim, it takes a long time for a flame to cath. But once it burns, it cannot go out." It didn't take long to understand what he meant. "But I will," I said. "I'll stop. I'll go out." There was a long silence. "Yes," Warden said, very softly. "You will go out.”
― The Mime Order
― The Mime Order
“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.”
― The Song of Achilles
“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.”
― The Song of Achilles
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
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“He is more worth to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else's friend and brother. So which life is more important?”
― The Song of Achilles
― The Song of Achilles
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