#achilles

But you, Achilles,/ There is not a man in the world more blest than you--/ There never has been, never will be one./ Time was, when you were alive, we Argives/ honored you as a god, and now down here, I see/ You Lord it over the dead in all your power./ So grieve no more at dying, great Achilles.’ I reassured the ghost, but he broke out protesting,/ ‘No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus!/ By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man--/ Some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive—than rule down here over all the breathless dead. ↗

— Homer

#the-odyssey #death

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. This, and this, and this, I said to him. I did not have to fear that I spoke too much. I did not have to worry that I was too slender, or too slow. This and this and this! 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. ↗

— Madeline Miller

#madeline-miller #the-song-of-achilles #freedom

And overpowered by memory Both men gave way to grief. Priam wept freely For man - killing Hector, throbbing, crouching Before Achilles' feet as Achilles wept himself, Now for his father, now for Patroclus once again And their sobbing rose and fell throughout the house. ↗

— Homer

#greek #homer #iliad #patroclus #priam

Christ on a cracker. You raped Achilles! ↗

— P.C. Cast

#kat #melia #warrior-rising #rape

If I had to think of what I would do different in my whole career, it's that I never would have picked up a beer, bottle of vodka. That definitely changed my life. That is an Achilles' heel for me. ↗

— Jayson Williams

#beer #bottle #career #changed #definitely

Most liberals think of civil liberties as their Achilles heel. It isn't. ↗

— Joe Biden

#achilles heel #civil #civil liberties #heel #liberals

Our dependence on foreign energy sources is our Achilles heel, not just in the realm of diplomacy, but in terms of our future as the world's economic leader. ↗

— Judy Biggert

#achilles heel #dependence #diplomacy #economic #energy

The Achilles Heel of the Americas was the lack of cultural confidence typical of new settlers. ↗

— Arthur Erickson

#achilles heel #americas #confidence #cultural #heel

The Domain Name Server (DNS) is the Achilles heel of the Web. The important thing is that it's managed responsibly. ↗

— Tim Berners-Lee

#achilles heel #domain #heel #important #important thing

Our workers comp debt is the Achilles heel of our state's economy, and I firmly believe that in order to create more good jobs in West Virginia this system must be fixed and it must be fixed now. We cannot afford to wait even one more minute. ↗

— Joe Manchin III

#achilles heel #afford #believe #cannot #comp