Izzy

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

'Philtatos,' Achilles says, sharply. Most beloved. 'Best of men, and slaughtered by your son.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that the sign of a superior mind 'is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at the same time.' Do you believe this is true? And is it also true that you once said, 'The only time white people tell the truth is when they keep their mouths shut'?”
― Sherman Alexie, War Dances

“I’ve seen a greater share of wonders, vast
And small, than most have done. My peace is made;
My breathing slows. I could not ask for more.
To reach beyond the stuff of day-to-day
Is worth this life of mine. Our kind is meant
To search and seek among the outer bounds,
And when we land upon a distant shore,
To seek another yet farther still. Enough.
The silence grows. My strength has fled, and Sol
Become a faded gleam, and now I wait,
A Viking laid to rest atop his ship.
Though fire won’t send me off, but cold and ice,
And forever shall I drift alone.
No king of old had such a stately bier,
Adorned with metals dark and grey, nor such
A hoard of gems to grace his somber tomb.
I check my straps; I cross my arms, prepare
Myself to once again venture into the
Unknown, content to face my end and pass
Beyond this mortal realm, content to hold
And wait and here to sleep—
To sleep in a sea of stars.
—THE FARTHEST SHORE 48–70
HARROW GLANTZER”
― Christopher Paolini, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

“After our earliest ancestors crawled out of the oceans, how soon did they feel the desire to crawl back in?”
― Sherman Alexie, War Dances