Madeline Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles retells the story of Achilles and the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus.
The storyline covers their relationship from their first encounter through their escapades during the war, with a particular emphasis on their love bond.
Let’s find below the popular quotes from The Song of Achilles novel.
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The Song of Achilles Quotes by Madeline Miller
“You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“He is half of my soul, as the poets say.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Later, Achilles pressed close for a final, drowsy whisper. ‘If you have to go, you know I will go with you.’ We slept.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Name one hero who was happy.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“There is no honour in betraying your friends.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I feel like I could eat the world raw.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Perhaps such things pass for virtue among the gods. But how is there glory in taking life? We die so easily. Would you make him another Pyrrhus? Let the stories of him be something more.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“A surety rose in me, lodged in my throat. I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Achilles weeps. He cradles me, and will not eat, nor speak a word other than my name.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
Other Book Quotes: The Metamorphosis Quotes by Franz Kafka and The Catcher in the Rye Quotes by J.D. Salinger
Quotes from The Song of Achilles
“We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Patroclus, he says, Patroclus. Patroclus. Over and over until it is sound only.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“They leaned towards him, like flowers to the sun, drinking in his luster. It was as Odysseus had said: he had light enough to make heroes of them all.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“When I am dead, I charge you to mingle our ashes and bury us together.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“This and this and this.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Achilles’ eyes lift. They are bloodshot and dead. “I wish he had let you all die.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“As for the goddess’s answer, I did not care. I would have no need of her. I did not plan to live after he was gone.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
Famous Quotes from The Song of Achilles
“Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Bring him back to me,’ he told them.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from 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 (quote from 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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“He did not fear ridicule, he had never known it.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I think: this is what I will miss. I think: I will kill myself rather than miss it. I think: how long do we have?” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I did not plan to live after he was gone.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“This, I say. This and this. The way his hair looked in summer sun. His face when he ran. His eyes, solemn as an owl at lessons. This and this and this. So many moments of happiness, crowding forward.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
Best The Song of Achilles Quotes
“And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“It is right to seek peace for the dead. You and I both know there is no peace for those who live after.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I almost did not come, because I did not want to leave it.” He smiled. “Now I know how to make you follow me everywhere.”
The sun sank below Pelion’s ridges, and we were happy.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Afterwards, when Agamemnon would ask him when he would confront the prince of Troy, he would smile his most guileless, maddening smile. “What has Hector ever done to me?” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from 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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“It was almost like fear, in the way it filled me, rising in my chest. It was almost like tears, in how swiftly it came. But it was neither of those, buoyant where they were heavy, bright were they dull.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“There was more to say, but for once we did not say it. There would be other times for speaking, tonight and tomorrow and all the days after that. He let go of my hand.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I am air and thought and can do nothing.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
Great Quotes from The Song of Achilles
“Her mouth was a gash of red, like the torn-open stomach of a sacrifice, bloody and oracular. Behind it her teeth shone sharp and white as bone.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“He is more worth to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else’s friend and brother. So which life is more important?” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“His fingers touched the strings and all my thoughts were displaced. The sound was pure and sweet as water, bright as lemons. It was like no music I had ever heard before. It had warmth as a fire does, a texture and weight like polished ivory. It buoyed and soothed at once.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“He knew, but it was not enough. The sorrow was so large it threatened to tear through my skin. When he died, all things swift and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“The sound was pure and sweet as water, bright as lemons.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I am made of memories.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“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 (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“I would know him in death, at the end of the world.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
“There was nothing clever to say, so I said something foolish.” ~ Madeline Miller (quote from The Song of Achilles).
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