The Furies Quotes

“Hecabe has lost almost everything. Her husband, Priam, died such a terrible death (killed while clinging to an altar, claiming sanctuary in vain) that he was a by-word for the Greek maxim that you should call no man happy until he’s dead. When old age could hold the horrors it did for Priam, no-one was safe.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“And that’s why teenagers and Greek tragedy are the perfect mix. When else in your life do you perceive things in such absolute terms? When is everything so great, so terrible, so unfair, so perfect, if not when you’re sixteen?”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“(when people ask me if they should be writers, this is my answer: if you view hoping as an activity, you have a good chance).”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“They like us to feel like we have control over our lives. Or as you’d say, agency over our fates.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“Lisa Meyer has had her hair cut into a blunt fringe. On another woman it might look coquettish. On Lisa Meyer, it looks as if she moonlights as an assassin.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“She had captured the wretchedness of passivity and the tragedy of action.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“The nadir came when she reminded me that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I replied that this was not a very Christian idea. Arthritis won’t kill you, it only makes you weaker. What if grief works the same way?”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“The trouble with grief is that once people have survived it, they can develop a hardness, like rough skin: they made it through, so why can’t you? And the only honest answer is that you don’t know why, or even if you can’t move on. You just know you haven’t.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“You like the kids we have at Rankeillor. And that’s the secret truth about education. Academics and think-tanks and God knows who else spend years of time and millions of pounds trying to work out how to keep children in schools, how to improve test scores. And the one thing they never stop to consider is: do the teachers like the kids? Do the kids trust the support staff? Does the head like his colleagues? You can announce as many directives as you wish, but in the end, it all comes down to this. I honestly believe it does. It’s as true at Rankeillor as it was at the University. It’s all about wanting people to succeed.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“Seriously, Alex? It’s the first day back.’ Jono believed the very idea of homework to be an infringement of the Geneva Convention.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“And I worked out that this is my idea of Tartarus: the bit of hell where people are punished with the same thing every day. Tantalus is always hungry, trying to reach his grapes that keep slipping out of sight. Prometheus has his liver pecked out every day by a bird. Sisyphus has to push a rock up a hill and every time he gets to the top, it rolls back down, and he has to start all over again.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“This, I think, is Lisa Meyer’s idea of a joke. I like the fact that the most self-deprecating thing she can think of is not very self-deprecating at all.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“And as a direct consequence of that, it has become Charles Brayford’s job to go through a list of names until he found someone who wouldn’t fight back. That used to be you. But it isn’t you any more.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“Bad things happen to everyone, Alex. She smiles that small, taut smile. We all choose whether to be defined by them, or whether to be who we are in spite of them.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“I was wrong about the double-blink being her version of a sigh. She inhales sharply, the negative of a sigh.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“Yes. I nod. I’ve thought about it a lot. But I don’t know what to do with the thoughts.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“had half a memory of reading how Kierkegaard had said that he knew of no thought so burdensome that you couldn’t walk away from it.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“I finally see what Luke always knew, which is that guilt and blame and responsibility aren’t the same things at all. They’re not even close.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“And I knew, I knew as I answered her that I was breaking a rule of conduct which was there to protect them and me equally. Therapists, teachers, doctors, nurses: none of them should share their personal lives with their charges. It isn’t appropriate or fair. They aren’t friends, even if they take your advice, even if they rely on it, even when they share their darkest thoughts and deepest wishes with you. You must never reciprocate and share your feelings, hopes and fears, because in doing so you damage your respective roles in each other’s lives beyond repair.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“Everyone has to live the life they have, don’t they? It doesn’t matter if it’s fated to be that way or if it just happens. You can’t say you have no responsibility for doing what you do. Even if you have no control over your life, you should live like you have a choice.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Amber Fury: 'I loved it' Madeline Miller

“1) I can’t hear you if we’re outside and there is a lot of traffic. The traffic is always louder than your voice, and because it’s lower-pitched, I can hear it more easily than I can hear your voice.”
― Natalie Haynes, The Furies