Theseus Quotes

“[Theseus] soon found himself involved in factions and troubles; those who long had hated him had now added to their hatred contempt; and the minds of the people were so generally corrupted, that, instead of obeying commands with silence, they expected to be flattered into their duty.”
― Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives: Volume I

“Often I wished for someone to share my mind with; but their hearts were in little things, they would have thought me a dreamer, and I had to plan alone.”
― Mary Renault, The Bull from the Sea

“Men would be as gods, if they had foreknowledge.”
― Mary Renault, The King Must Die

“He stands alone in hollow gloom, with the sound of his own breath whispering down unseen passages ahead and behind and to both sides, wondering how he stumbled into this blackest of all labyrinths.
He entered by choice. We all do. Whether we are mapping the heavens or skulking the lanes of the underworld, whether we are hunting the imprisoned fiend or have ourselves become the monster, whether we are searching for what is lost or hiding what must never be found, we all round that first corner by choice - and by then, we are lost.
You too. You must decide what is false and what is true, and what is true for me but not for you. We are wandering the mazes, all of us, and we cannot hope to escape until we learn to tell between what is real and what is real for someone else. There lies the madness, and the truth as well.”
― Troy Denning, Pages of Pain

“These things sensibly affected Theseus, who, thinking it but just not to disregard, but rather partake of, the sufferings of his fellow citizens, offered himself for one without any lot. All else were struck with admiration for the nobleness and with love for the goodness of the act.”
― Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives: Volume I

“So, Ariadne was the babe with the ball of twine and the plan.”
― Claire Cross, Double Trouble

“Menestheus, the son of Peteus, grandson of Orneus, and the great-grandson to Erechtheus, the first man that is recorded to have affected popularity and ingratiated himself with the multitude, stirred up and exasperated the most eminent men of the city, who had long borne a secret grudge to Theseus, conceiving that he had robbed them of their several little kingdoms and lordships, and, having pent them all up in one city, was using them as his subjects and slaves. He put also the meaner people into commotion, telling them, that, deluded with a mere dream of liberty, though indeed they were deprived both of that and of their proper homes and religious usages, instead of many good and gracious kings of their own, they had given themselves up to be lorded over by a new-comer and a stranger.”
― Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives: Volume I

“I want to build / and raise anew / Theseus' Temple and the Stadiums / and where Pericles lived
But there's no money, too much spent today / I had a guest over and we sat together.”
― Friedrich Hölderlin

“I know that human life shines more brightly because it is but a shimmering candle against an eternity of darkness and it can be extinguished with the faintest breeze.”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

“It was the perfect set. Theseus gave a great war cry and brought his sword arcing up toward Sheba’s throat - but the monster of the labyrinth lives inside us all. She is the dark, devouring hunger that is never sated, the creeping shadow that ever plays the fiend to our seraphim, the secret rage hidden in our hearts; deny her, and we become her slaves; fight her, and we make her invincible. By now, you must know that no monster can ever be killed, not really - […]”
― Troy Denning, Pages of Pain

“We lived in the Bull Court; a city sealed in a palace, and a life sealed in with death. Yet it is a proud city, and a strong fierce life. A man once in it is of it till he dies. So I, who have gray beginning in my beard, still say "it is", as if the Bull Court stood and I might yet go back to it.”
― Mary Renault, The King Must Die

“The finished shape of our fate, the line drawn round it. It is the task the gods allot us, and the share of glory they allow; the limits we must not pass; and our appointed end. Moira is all these.”
― Mary Renault, The King Must Die

“They should remember it everyday, when they look into their smiling faces, and be thankful that their bones are not scattered in a Cretan dungeon."
"Oh, of course they should", I hastened to agree. "But you know what people are like..."
His brows few together, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, they forget what could have been and focus only on the irritations of today.”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

“Don’t we say all helpless folk—the orphan, the stranger, the suppliant, who have nothing to bargain with and can only pray—are sacred to Zeus the Savior? The King must answer for them; he is next the god. For the serfs, the landless hirelings, the captives of the spear; even the slaves.”
― Mary Renault, The Bull from the Sea

“Can you blame me for thinking it better to garner the love of a thousand mortals instead; to hold the adoration of a city instead of one consort's frail, mortal flesh?”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

“You told me once that one lifetime of human love was worth the loss”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

“I had not fooled myself with false hope. I was a goddess, and he a mortal, and both of us were imprisoned. But I pressed his face into my mind, as seals are pressed in wax, so I could carry it with me.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“I may never know
if you are my Theseus or Odysseus
but call me Penelope for my heart
remains steadfast in its fidelity, ' (p. 46)”
― Tessa van Vliet

“English: "It is paradoxical that we do not consider the constant death of our cells as our own death, while we do consider the death of ourselves as individuals, even though we are cells of society."

Česky: „Je paradox, že neustálé smrti svých buněk nepovažujeme za svou smrt, zatímco smrt sebe jako jedince ano, přestože jsme buňkou společnosti.”
― Sebastián Wortys