The Song of Achilles Quotes with Deep Meanings

Madeline Miller’s novel, The Song of Achilles quotes, was published in 2011. It is an adaptation of Homer’s Iliad from Patroclus’ point of view.

The Song of Achilles Quotes

Enjoy these quotes from The Song of Achilles that will transport you to the Greek Heroic Age!

“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

2. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.” ― Madeline Miller

3. “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

4. “He is half of my soul, as the poets say.” ― Madeline Miller

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

6. “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. The Song of Achilles Quotes

7. “I am made of memories.” ― Madeline Miller

8. “He smiled, and his face was like the sun.” ― Madeline Miller

9. “That is — your friend “Philtatos,” Achilles replied, sharply. Most beloved.” ― Madeline Miller

10. “There are no bargains between lion and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.” ― Madeline Miller

11. “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

12. “Name one hero who was happy.” ― Madeline Miller

13. “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

14. “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

15. “We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/the-song-of-achillesin silence.” ― Madeline Miller

16. “I feel like I could eat the world raw.” ― Madeline Miller. The Song of Achilles Quotes

17. “I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.” ― Madeline Miller

18. “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

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

20. “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

21. “Bring him back to me,’ he told them.” ― Madeline Miller

22. “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

23. “We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.” ― Madeline Miller

24. “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.” The Song of Achilles Quotes

25. “This was a man who moved like the gods were watching: every gesture he made was upright and correct. There was no one else it could be but Hector”

26. “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.”

27. “We reached for each other and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake in this room loving him in silence.”

28. “Our goddess of the moon is gifted with magic, with power over the dead. She could banish the dreams, if she wished. She did not.”

29. “An ugly man, with a face sharp like a weasel and a habit of running a flickering tongue over his lips before he speaks. But most ugly of all are his eyes: blue, bright blue. When people see them, they flinch. Such things are freakish. He is lucky he was not killed at birth.”

30. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.” – Chiron

31. “I am made of memories.” – Patroclus

32. “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.” – Patroclus

33. “All I saw was his beauty, his singing limbs, the quick flickering of his feet.” – Patroclus

34. “Our goddess of the moon is gifted with magic, with power over the dead. She could banish the dreams if she wished. She did not.” – Patroclus

35. “The presence of the other boys did not comfort me; our dead come for their vengeance regardless of witnesses.” – Patroclus.

The Song of Achilles Quotes

36. “We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.” – Patroclus

37. “Do not let what you gained this day be so easily lost.” – Chiron

38. “We reached for each other and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake in this room loving him in silence.” – Patroclus

39. “My mother told you the rest of the prophecy. And you think that no one but me can kill Hector. And you think to steal time from the Fates?” – Achilles

40. “Kill me. It will not bring him back. He was worth 10 of you. Ten! And you sent him to his death.” – Briseis

41. “Our men liked conquest; they did not trust a man who was conquered himself.” – Patroclus

42. “Until this moment I had been a prince, expected and announced. Now I was negligible.” – Patroclus

43. “I feel like I could eat the world raw.” – Achilles

44. “He is half of my soul, as the poets say.” – Patroclus

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

46. “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.” – Patroclus

47. “You are the one who made him go.” – Briseis

48. “We had been silent. We were 14, and these things were too hard for us. Now that we are 27, they still feel too hard.” – Patroclus

49. “We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence.” – Patroclus

50. “Dear gods, I think, let him not hate me.” – Patroclus

51. “Bring him back to me.” – Achilles

52. “The never-ending ache of love and sorrow. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone.” – Patroclus

53. “I wish I had known,’ I said, the first day when he showed it to me.” – Patroclus

54. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how I like it.” – Achilles

Reaching Through the Hopeless

This collection is for you if you like romantic stories with a dash of action! To learn more about this one-of-a-kind story, see the full list below.

55. “But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart.” – Patroclus

56. “I should have known better than to call upon the gods.” – Patroclus

57. “The thick warmth of his sleepy breath against my ear. If you have to go, I will go with you. My fears forgotten in the golden harbor of his arms.” – Patroclus

58. “I saw then how I had changed. I did not mind anymore that I lost when we raced and I lost when we swam out to the rocks and I lost when we tossed spears or skipped stones.” – Patroclus

59. “Tears came, and fell. Above us, the constellations spun and the moon paced her weary course. We lay stricken and sleepless as the hours passed.” – Patroclus

60. Do not let what you gained this day be so easily lost. – Chiron

61. We reached for each other and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake in this room loving him in silence. – Patroclus

62. “I feel like I could eat the world raw.” – Achilles

63. “Our men liked conquest; they did not trust a man who was conquered himself.” – Patroclus

64. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how I like it.” – Achilles

65. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.” – Chiron

66. “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.” – Odysseus

67. “He was watching me, his eyes as deep as earth.” – Patroclus

68. “I found myself grinning until my cheeks hurt, my scalp prickling till I thought it might lift off my head. My tongue ran away from me, giddy with freedom.” – Patroclus

69. “Maybe her gods are kinder than ours, and she will find rest.” – Patroclus

70. “He had light enough to make heroes of them all.” – Odysseus

71. “Now I know how to make you follow me everywhere.” – Achilles

72. “The memories come, and come. She listens, staring into the grain of the stone.” – Patroclus

73. “Patroclus, he says, Patroclus. Patroclus. Over and over until it is sound only.” ― Madeline Miller

74. “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

75. “You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.” ― Madeline Miller

76. “Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.” ― Madeline Miller

77. “I taught him how to skip stones, and he taught me how to carve wood. I could feel every nerve in my body, every brush of air against my skin.” – Patroclus

78. “The rosy gleam of his lip, the fevered green of his eyes. There was not a line anywhere on his face, nothing creased or graying; all crisp.” – Patroclus

79. “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.” – Patroclus

80. “I almost did not come, because I did not want to believe it.” – Patroclus

81. “This was a man who moved like the gods were watching—every gesture he made was upright and correct. There was no one else it could be but Hector.” – Patroclus

82. “Later Achilles would play the lyre, as Chiron and I listened. My mother’s lyre. He had brought it with him.” – Patroclus

83. “An ugly man, with a face sharp like a weasel and a habit of running a flickering tongue over his lips before he speaks.” – Patroclus

84. “I would know him in death, at the end of the world.” ― Madeline Miller

85. “This is what Achilles will feel like when he is old. And then I remembered: he will never be old.” ― Madeline Miller.

86. “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

87. “Achilles’ eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness.” ― Madeline Miller

CSN Team.