“If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.”

“I didn't think about being king, he said, his voice hoarse.Eddis stared. Your capacity to land yourself in a mess because you didn't think first, Eugenides, will never cease to amaze me. What do yo...”

“I'll be your minister--""Of the exchequer? You'd rob me blind.""I would never steal from you," he'd said hotly."Oh? Where is my tourmaline necklace? Where are my missing earrings?""That necklace wa...”

“Are you telling me in your own gentle way to stop whining?""Yes.""I don't feel like a hero. I feel like an idiot.""I think heroes generally do, but those men believe in you.""I did wait until I was...”

“He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too.”

“I didn't think about being king,” he said, his voice hoarse.Eddis stared. “Your capacity to land yourself in a mess because you didn't think first, Eugenides, will never cease to amaze me. What do ...”

“The sight of a worm excites my reverence more than all the gods men have invented.”

“For the natural polytheist, whose gods arise in and from the natural material world ... Our gods not only have transcendent eyes and metaphysical hands. They have antlers and feathers, hooves and s...”

“I sing to you of many more gods, gods of wind and water, gods of each mineral and the events that created them. I sing to you of the gods of protons, of quarks, of atomic forces binding and holding...”

“You are a message to the world make sure it is motivating.”

“If you want to give a message to the world, let it be simple, as simple as the life of a shepherd!”

“We need a shift in our message and in our pulpit”