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Achilles Quotes

Browse 163 quotes about Achilles.

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Achilles Quotes

“The second [argument about motion] is the so-called Achilles, and it amounts to this, that in a race the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead. Statement of the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox in the relation of the discrete to the continuous.; perhaps the earliest example of the reductio ad absurdum method of proof.”

FirstsScienceRaceExampleAmountArgumentRelationMathematicsMethodProofStatementsParadoxAdsRunnersPursuedAchillesTortoisesDiscrete
Author:Zeno of Elea
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“I would suppose I learned how to write when I was very young indeed. When I read a child's book about the Trojan War and decided that the Greeks were really a bunch of frauds with their tricky horses and the terrible things they did, stealing one another's wives, and so on, so at that very early age, I re-wrote the ending of the Iliad so that the Trojans won. And boy, Achilles and Ajax got what they wanted, believe me. And thereafter, at frequent intervals, I would write something. It was really quite extraordinary. Never of very high merit, but the daringness of it was.”

WritingBelieveChildrenBookWarAgeWantedYoungBoysWifeTerribleDecidedHorseExtraordinaryStealingBunchGreekMeritFraudBelieve In MeTerrible ThingsTrickyIntervalsChildren's BooksAchillesIliadTrojansAjaxTrojan War
Author:James A. Michener
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“Whatever the poets pretend, it is plain they give immortality to none but themselves; it is Homer and Virgil we reverence and admire, not Achilles or Aeneas. With historians it is quite the contrary; our thoughts are taken up with the actions, persons, and events we read, and we little regard the authors.”

GivingLittlesPersonsActionTakenEventsPoetRegardContraryAdmireImmortalityHistorianReverenceOur ThoughtsAchillesAeneas
Book:The Battle of the Books: And Other Works, Including 'A Modest Proposal'
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“On past records I usually did start with a story or an idea for a song and then write around it, but on Achilles' Heel I would just start writing and try to let the song and my sub-conscience determine the direction. which is a goofy way of saying I tried not to decide before hand what the song and or the characters would do and be like.”

WayWritingTryingIdeasCharacterStoriesHandsPastSongRecordsConscienceDetermineHeelsGoofyAchillesAchilles Heel
Author:David Bazan
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“Anybody who severs their own Achilles tendon, takes blood thinners to induce a hospital stay , or beats themselves with their fists hurts themselves as much, if not more, than they benefit from the attention they derive from their actions. Con artists usually benefit from misleading others without sacrificing anything themselves. All my girls have sacrificed plenty.”

IfsActionArtistGirlHurtAttentionSacrificeBloodBenefitsBeatsPlentyHospitalsFistsMisleadAchillesMy GirlCon Artist
Author:Janice Erlbaum
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“All the Greek mythic heroes had gone east, but they were myths. Achilles was a myth. Perseus, Theseus, Hercules... they probably existed in some form. But they all went east. That's where a Greek went to make his bones so to speak. And Alexander the Great was the first man who actually went east not to plunder, not to loot and come back to Greece - which is where the Macedonians wanted to go back with the money. He stayed. And he became half-Eastern.”

MenFirstsWantedFormSpeakHalfGoneHeroBonesMythEastGreekEasternGreeceAchillesPlunderGreek MythTheseusPerseus
Author:Oliver Stone
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“Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs and birds, and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end. Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed, Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.”

MenFirstsMadeTwoSoulEndsBodyMovingHouseLossLordDogSonCostBirdBrilliantRageFighterBrokeGoddessDoomedMuseAchillesZeusIliadSturdyHurlingRage From The IliadAgamemnonCarrion
Book:The Iliad
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“But if you caught my informant,' said Achilles, 'why in the world would Chamrajnagar—or Graff, if it was him—launch the shuttle anyway? Was catching me doing something naughty so important they’d risk a shuttle and it’s crew just to catch me? I find that quite… flattering. Sort of like winning the Nobel Prize for scariest villain.”

IfsWorldSaidImportantWinningRiskCaughtPrizeVillainCrewCatchingNobelNaughtyFlatteringNobel PrizeAchillesCatch MeInformants
Book:Shadow Puppets
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“Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven; think on your own father and have compassion upon me, who am the more pitiable”

ThinkingFatherHeavenCompassionWrathAchillesIliadFate In The IliadRage From The IliadAchilles Fate
Book:The Iliad: An Epic Poem About the Trojan War, the Ten-Year Siege of the City of Troy (Ilium) by a Coalition of Greek States - Battles and Events During the Weeks of a Quarrel Between King Agamemnon and the Warrior Achilles (Beloved Books Edition)
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“Achilles glared at him and answered, "Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out an through. Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall fall”

MenMindMayHateFallUnderstandingFoolLionsCovenantLambsAchillesIliadFate In The IliadRage From The IliadAchilles FateBetween You And Me
Book:The Iliad & The Odyssey
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“Percy Jackson," Hermes said, "because you have taken on the curse of Achilles, I must spare you. You are in the hands of the Fates now. But you will never speak to me like that again. You have no idea how much I have sacrificed, how much—" His voice broke, and he shrank back to human size. "My son, my greatest pride . . . my poor May . . ." He sounded so devastated I didn't know what to say. One minute he was ready to vaporize us. Now he looked like he needed a hug.”

KnowsHumansMaySaidIdeasHandsSpeakVoicePoorTakenFateMinutesSonReadyPrideNeededSizeBrokeNo IdeaCurseMy SonHugSparesOne MinuteDevastatedAchillesHermes
Author:Rick Riordan
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“When Luke had descended into the River Styx, he would've had to focus on something important that would hold him to his mortal life. Otherwise he would've dissolved. I had seen Annabeth, and I had a feeling he had too. He had pictured that scene Hestia showed me—of himself in the good old days with Thalia and Annabeth, when he promised they would be a family. Hurting Annabeth in battle had shocked him into remembering that promise. It had allowed his mortal conscience to take over again, and defeat Kronos. His weak spot—his Achilles heel—had saved us all”

ImportantFeelingsWould BeRememberHurtFocusPromiseSceneBattleConscienceRiversWeakDefeatSavedSpotsMortalsHeelsShockedOld DaysLukeAnnabethAchillesGood Old DaysAchilles HeelStyxWeak SpotsHestia
Author:Rick Riordan
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“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.”

MenWorldHas BeensEarthWinningPoorLordAliveDyingShiningSlaveGhostBrokeGrievingFarmersOne TimeDirtHonoredAnother ManAchillesBreathlessOdysseyTenantsOdysseus
Book:Odyssey, Homer
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“I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”

LifeInspirationalMomentsGodMightLastsBeautifulSecretBeautyTeachInspirational LifeEnvyMortalsGreekTemplesMortalityDoomedBeing HumanGreek MythologyBeautiful LifePower Of NowAchillesAncient Greek
Author:David Benioff
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“There is a coldness to the Clave, it is true. We are dust and shadows. But you are like the heroes of ancient times, like Achilles and Jason.” “Achilles was murdered with a poisoned arrow, and Jason died alone, killed by his own rotting ship. Such is the fate of heroes; the Angel knows why anyone would want to be one.”

KnowsWantFateHeroAngelShadowDiedAncientShipsDustArrowsJasonWill HerondaleAchillesTessa GrayRottingColdnessAncient Times
Book:Clockwork Princess
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“Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know - and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know - even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction - than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.”

IfsKnowsLifeEnoughMomentsUseWisdomChoicesUniverseWonderKnowledgeWiseIgnoranceMinesEternalGainsDestructionRemainsEndureIgnorantDullUnseenEternal LifeComprehensionAchillesSwirls
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Growth is the mantra of our society because the economy can't remain healthy without growth.Impregnable monopolies aside (and these are few), profits are both the hallmark of capitalism and its Achilles heel, for no business can permanently maintain its prices much above its costs. There is only one way in which profits can be perpetuated; a business-or an entire economy-must grow.”

WayGrowsGrowthEconomyHealthyCostCapitalismProfitOne WayOur SocietyHeelsMonopolyMantrasHallmarkAchillesAchilles Heel
Author:Robert Heilbroner
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