Quotes from book
The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller

WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2012 Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

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“Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“The rosy gleam of his lip, the fevered gleam of his eyes. There was not a line anywhere on his face, nothing creased or graying; all crisp. He was spring, golden and bright. Envious death would drink his blood, and grow young again.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“I lay back and tried not to think of the minutes passing. Just yesterday we had a wealth of them. Now each was a drop of heartsblood lost.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that I felt anything at all.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another. We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory… We are men only, a brief flare of the torch.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“I am made of memories.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“Bring him back to me,' he told them.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“I shift, an infinitesimal movement, towards him. It is like the leap from a waterfall. I do not know, until then, what I am going to do.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“That is — your friend?"
"Philtatos," Achilles replied, sharply. Most beloved.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“He looked different in sleep, beautiful but cold as moonlight. I found myself wishing he would wake so that I might watch the life return.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“Achilles’ eyes lift. They are bloodshot and dead. “I wish he had let you all die.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

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“Achilles makes a sound like choking. “There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.” His spearpoint flies in a dark whirlwind, bright as the evening-star, to catch the hollow at Hector’s throat.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles