30+ Madeline Miller Quotes (Fantasy, Mythology And Poetic)

Madeline Miller is an American novelist best known for her novel Circe, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2019. Her debut novel, The Song of Achilles, was also a critically acclaimed bestseller. She is currently working on a new novel, which will be published in 2021.

Top 10 Madeline Miller Quotes

1. Perhaps it is the greatest grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.
2. 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?
3. She wants you to be a god," I told him. "I know." His face twisted with embarrassment, and in spite of itself my heart lightened. It was such a boyish response. And so human. Parents, everywhere.
4. and her skin shone luminous and impossibly pale, as if it drank light from the moon.
5. 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.
6. My mind is filled with cataclysm and apocalypse. I wish for earthquakes, eruptions, flood.
7. 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.
8. and when he moved it was like watching oil spread across a lake, smooth and fluid, almost vicious
9. . . .nothing could eclipse the stain of his dirty, mortal mediocrity.
10. 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 Short Quotes

• No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.
• I feel like I could eat the world raw.
• The door snicked shut.

Madeline Miller Famous Quotes And Sayings

In making Achilles and Patroclus lovers, I wasn't trying to speak for all gay men, just as when I write straight characters, I don't claim to speak for all straight people. My job as an author is to give voice to these very particular characters - these two men, in this time, and in this place — Madeline Miller

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

When I first started studying Greek, one of my absolute favorite parts was realizing that so many English words had these old, secret roots. Learning Greek was like being given a super-power: linguistic x-ray vision. — Madeline Miller

The very dull truth is that writing love scenes is the same as writing other scenes - your job is to be fully engaged in the character's experience. What does this mean to them? How are they changed by it, or not? I remember being a little nervous, as I am when writing any high-stakes, intense scene (death, sex, grief, joy). — Madeline Miller

As an author, one of the most important things I think you can do once you've written a novel is step back. When the book is out, it belongs to the readers and you can't stand there breathing over their shoulders. — Madeline Miller

Odysseus inclines his head. "True. But fame is a strange thing. Some men gain glory after they die, while others fade. What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another." He spread his broad hands. "We cannot say who will survive the holocaust of memory. Who knows?" He smiles. "Perhaps one day even I will be famous. Perhaps more famous than you. — Madeline Miller

I would still be with you. But I could sleep outside, so it would not be so obvious. I do not need to attend your councils. I—' 'No. The Phthians will not care. And the others can talk all they like. I will still be Aristos Achaion.' Best of the Greeks. 'Your honor could be darkened by it." 'Then it is darkened.' His jaw shot forward, stubborn. 'They are fools if they let my glory rise or fall on this. — Madeline Miller

A part of what makes myths live is their multiplicity, the way different voices retell them in every generation. Homer survives because his poetry was outstanding, yes, but also because he's been passed down by so many by luminaries like Vergil and Ovid, Shakespeare, James Joyce and Margaret Atwood, but also by countless others. I wanted to do my part for these tremendous stories. — Madeline Miller

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

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

What's amazing to me is how many of the issues facing women in the ancient world still linger today. Take Odysseus' wife, Penelope, a brilliant, resourceful woman who ends up in a terrible situation: in her husband's absence, she is being held hostage in her own home by men who claim to be courting her. She tries to make them leave, but because she's a woman they refuse, blaming their bad behavior on her desirability. — Madeline Miller

People are people, whatever age they're living in. The circumstances may have changed - we go to war with planes instead of chariots - but experiences of grief, longing, rage and love remain the same. — Madeline Miller

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

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

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

The ship's boards were still sticky with new resin. We leaned over the railing to wave our last farewell, the sun-warm wood pressed against our bellies. The sailors heaved up the anchor, square and chalky with barnacles, and loosened the sails. Then they took their seats at the oars that fringed the boat like eyelashes, waiting for the count. The drums began to beat, and the oars lifted and fell, taking us to Troy. — Madeline Miller

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

Life Lessons by Madeline Miller

1. Madeline Miller's work emphasizes the power of storytelling, reminding us of the importance of preserving and sharing stories from the past.
2. Her novels also demonstrate the strength of female characters, showing us the power of women to shape their own destinies.
3. Finally, Miller's work illuminates the complexities of human relationships, reminding us of the need to be kind and understanding to each other.