Mathilda

“Perhaps what Aristotle and Seneca were saying boils down to the same infinite regress, a pair of facing mirrors in which my own image recedes into the distance, until I dissolve in the darkness: I do what I'm told because I'm a slave, and I'm a slave because I do what I'm told.”
― James Hynes, Sparrow

“Then Sparrow can't rise any more. The string pulls tight, his wings flail and lose their lift, and he plummets, spiralling back down the way he came, past the moon, through the stars. [] Something's reeling him in, and he's falling, falling, falling [] straight back into the bruised and tender flesh of the boy, alone on the bed.”
― James Hynes, Sparrow

“A broken tool myself, I live in a house full of unread books and broken tools, the irreparable detritus of a dead empire. I am the last Roman, the emperor of junk.”
― James Hynes, Sparrow

“A slave digs his own pit and stands in it, peering over the edge at everyone else's feet and counting himself lucky whenever they don't step on him.
That's what Aristotle thought, anyway.”
― James Hynes, Sparrow