Quotations (41)

Circe

a Novel
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1 to 25 of 41 items
- [ ] “ I had been old and stern for so long, carved with regrets and years like a monolith. But that was only a shape I have been poured into. I did not have to keep it” (373). - [ ] “ I would not go on anymore, weaving my cloths by day,…
- [ ] “Each man or woman who passed, she knew their history and would tell it to me, for she said that you must understand people if you would rule them” (304). - [ ] “I asked her how she did it once, how she understood the world so…
- [ ] “He had more stories of his son from a single year, I thought, than my father had of me in all eternity” (225). - [ ] “Death’s Brother is the name that poets give to sleep. For most men, those dark hours are a reminder of the…
- [ ] “They have wrinkles, but they had no wisdom” (219).
- [ ] “I would come to know this type of man, jealous of his little power, to whom I was only a woman” (112). - [ ] “It was borrowed time, we knew it, which made it all the sweeter” (150). - [ ] “…as if children are sacks of grain, to be…
- [ ] “Bold action and bold manner are not the same” (21). - [ ] “… all my life had been murk and depths, but I was not a part of that dark water. I was a creature within it” (24). - [ ] “ When we are young, we think ourselves the first to…
I thought: I cannot bear this world a moment longer. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.
Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.
He showed me his scars, and in return he Let me pretend that I had none.
But most of all my father’s voice, speaking those words like trash he dropped. Such as you. Any other day in all my years of life I would have curled upon myself and wept. But that day his scorn was like a spark falling on dry tinder.
“Witches are not so delicate.”
“You have always been the worst of my children,” he said. “Be sure to not dishonor me.” “I have a better idea. I will do as I please, and when you count your children, leave me out.”
“Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.”
“But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.”
Pg. 273 of the hardcover, “It is youth’s gift not to feel its debts.” Pg. 311 of the hardcover, “But perhaps no parent can truly see their child. When we look we see only the mirror of our own faults.”
WHEN I WAS BORN, the name for what I was did not exist. They called me nymph, assuming I would be like my mother and aunts and thousand cousins. Least of the lesser goddesses, our powers were so modest they could scarcely ensure our…
“It is not fair,” I said. “It cannot be.” “Those are two different things , ” my grandmother said . === The slender dryads flowed out of their forests, and the stony reads ran down from their crags. My mother was there with her naiad…
What could make a god afraid? I knew that answer too. A power greater than their own. === Helios flattered himself that all women went eager to his bed, slave girls and divinities alike. His altars smoked with the proof, offerings from…
“Tell me,” he said, “who gives better offerings, a miserable man or a happy one?” “A happy one, of course.” “Wrong,” he said. “A happy man is too occupied with his life. He thinks he is beholden to no one. But make him shiver, kill his…
This was how mortals found fame, I thought. Through practice and diligence, tending their skills like gardens until they glowed beneath the sun. But gods are born of ichor and nectar, their excellences already bursting from their…
But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me. === I pressed as close as he would let me, like a lizard to noonday rocks. === Rage…
A man wants a wife like new grass, fresh and green. ” === “A witch,” I said. “With unbound power. Who need answer to none but herself? ” === Sons were not punished. === After so long amid only the smooth sameness of nymphs, each…
Maybe the true surprise, I thought, was that it had not happened sooner. My uncles’ eyes used to crawl over me as I poured their wine. Their hands found their way to my flesh. A pinch, a stroke, a hand slipping under the sleeve of my…
“Your wife sounds like a clever woman.” “She is. I cannot account for the fact that she married me, but since it is to my benefit, I try not to bring it to her attention. ” === He had already noted for himself that there was no man’s cloak…
Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep. === Would I be skimmed milk or a harpy? A foolish gull or a villainous monster? Those could not still be the only choices. === …