Persephone Quotes

“The older lady harrumphed. "I warned you, daughter. This scoundrel Hades is no good. You could've married the god of doctors or the god of lawyers, but noooo. You had to eat the pomegranate."
"Mother-"
"And get stuck in the Underworld!"
"Mother, please-"
"And here it is August, and do you come home like you're supposed to? Do you ever think about your poor lonely mother?"
"DEMETER!" Hades shouted. "That is enough. You are a guest in my house."
"Oh, a house is it?" she said. "You call this dump a house? Make my daughter live in this dark, damp-"
"I told you," Hades said, grinding his teeth, "there's a war in the world above. You and Persephone are better off here with me."
"Excuse me," I broke in. "But if you're going to kill me, could you just get on with it?”
― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

“You know what would help this boy?" Demeter mused. "Farming."
Persephone rolled her eyes. "Mother-"
"Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building.”
― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

“Husband, we talked about this," Persephone chided. "You can't go around incinerating every hero. Besides, he's brave. I like that."
Hades rolled his eyes. "You liked that Orpheus fellow too. Look how well that turned out.”
― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

“I am Persephone" she said, her voice thin and papery. "Welcome, demigods.
Nico squashed a pomegranate under his boot. "Welcome? After last time, you've got the nerve to welcome me?"
I shifted uneasily, because talking that way to a god can get you blasted into dust bunnies. "Um, Nico-"
"It's all right," Persephone said coldly. "We had a little family spat."
"Family spat?" Nico cried. "You turned me into a dandelion!”
― Rick Riordan, The Demigod Files

“Hades smiled coldly. "Hello, Father. You're looking...young."
"Hades," Kronos growled. "I hope you and the ladies have come to pledge your allegiance."
"I'm afraid not." Hades sighed. "My son here convinced me that perhaps I should prioritize my list of enemies." He glanced at me with distaste. "As much as I dislike certain upstart demigods, it would not do for Olympus to fall. I would miss bickering with my siblings. And if there is one thing we agree on - it is that you were a TERRIBLE father.”
― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

“Creativity is closely associated with bipolar disorder. This condition is unique . Many famous historical figures and artists have had this. Yet they have led a full life and contributed so much to the society and world at large. See, you have a gift. People with bipolar disorder are very very sensitive. Much more than ordinary people. They are able to experience emotions in a very deep and intense way. It gives them a very different perspective of the world. It is not that they lose touch with reality. But the feelings of extreme intensity are manifested in creative things. They pour their emotions into either writing or whatever field they have chosen" (pg 181)”
― Preeti Shenoy, Life is What You Make It: A Story of Love, Hope and How Determination Can Overcome Even Destiny

“I asked him for it.
For the blood, for the rust,
for the sin.
I didn’t want the pearls other girls talked about,
or the fine marble of palaces,
or even the roses in the mouth of servants.
I wanted pomegranates—
I wanted darkness,
I wanted him.
So I grabbed my king and ran away
to a land of death,
where I reigned and people whispered
that I’d been dragged.
I’ll tell you I’ve changed. I’ll tell you,
the red on my lips isn’t wine.
I hope you’ve heard of horns,
but that isn’t half of it. Out of an entire kingdom
he kneels only to me,
calls me Queen, calls me Mercy.
Mama, Mama, I hope you get this.
Know the bed is warm and our hearts are cold,
know never have I been better
than when I am here.
Do not send flowers,
we’ll throw them in the river.
‘Flowers are for the dead’, ‘least that’s what
the mortals say.
I’ll come back when he bores me,
but Mama,
not today.”
― Daniella Michalleni

“Lost in Hell,-Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee;
Say to her, "My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems

“When Hades decided he loved this girl
he built for her a duplicate of earth,
everything the same, down to the meadow,
but with a bed added.
Everything the same, including sunlight,
because it would be hard on a young girl
to go so quickly from bright light to utter darkness

Gradually, he thought, he’d introduce the night,
first as the shadows of fluttering leaves.
Then moon, then stars. Then no moon, no stars.
Let Persephone get used to it slowly.
In the end, he thought, she’d find it comforting.

A replica of earth
except there was love here.
Doesn’t everyone want love?

He waited many years,
building a world, watching
Persephone in the meadow.
Persephone, a smeller, a taster.
If you have one appetite, he thought,
you have them all.

Doesn’t everyone want to feel in the night
the beloved body, compass, polestar,
to hear the quiet breathing that says
I am alive, that means also
you are alive, because you hear me,
you are here with me. And when one turns,
the other turns—

That’s what he felt, the lord of darkness,
looking at the world he had
constructed for Persephone. It never crossed his mind
that there’d be no more smelling here,
certainly no more eating.

Guilt? Terror? The fear of love?
These things he couldn’t imagine;
no lover ever imagines them.

He dreams, he wonders what to call this place.
First he thinks: The New Hell. Then: The Garden.
In the end, he decides to name it
Persephone’s Girlhood.

A soft light rising above the level meadow,
behind the bed. He takes her in his arms.
He wants to say I love you, nothing can hurt you

but he thinks
this is a lie, so he says in the end
you’re dead, nothing can hurt you
which seems to him
a more promising beginning, more true.”
― Louise Glück

“Be to her, Persephone,
All the things I might not be;
Take her head upon your knee.
She that was so proud and wild,
Flippant, arrogant and free,
She that had no need of me,
Is a little lonely child
Lost in Hell,—Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee;
Say to her, “My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Charm me into giving you the red M&Ms. They’re my favorite.'
I looked Hades in the eyes. 'Give me the red M&Ms.'
'Still not good enough.'
'Give me the damn M&Ms,"'I snapped.
He snickered. 'That wasn’t very charming.”
― Kaitlin Bevis, Persephone

“Tell them that you weren't hungry, tell them you followed the pomegranates seeds because hey tasted like blood, like love.”
― Pauline Albanese, The Closed Doors

“I will love you and only you until the stars are shaken out of the sky.”
― Rachel Alexander, Receiver of Many

“...a chasm opened in the earth and out of it coal-black horses sprang, drawing a chariot and driven by one who had a look of dark splendor, majestic and beautiful and terrible. He caught her to him and held her close. The next moment she was being borne away from the radiance of earth in springtime to the world of the dead by the king who rules it.”
― Edith Hamilton, Mythology

“Who are you?" she said, barely able to hear her own words as her heartbeat thrummed in her ears.
"This is your dream, remember? Tell me who I am," he said smiling, absently coiling a tendril of her long brown hair around a finger.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "If this is my dream, oneiroi, then answer my question. Who are you?"
He was hearing her true voice: that of a natural ruler. She watched him smile at her fearlessness, even as he loomed over her. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I am your lord husband.”
― Rachel Alexander, Receiver of Many

“It's what's known as an origin myth.
What happened to me? That's no myth.”
― Meg Cabot, Abandon

“The poems circle the same question: how one’s soul could possibly endure when life’s beauty vanishes from reach.”
― Victoria Lee, A Lesson in Vengeance

“You’re going to kidnap me again?”
Adrian tried a smile. “No, I’ll ask you if you *want* to be kidnapped again.”
― Molly Ringle, Persephone's Orchard

“Persephone is just a name for a spirit of beauty at a certain time in history. I'm sure we could argue a biblical place for her if it matters. Your wife has the name of that pagan goddess, but the fact remains that she's your mortal bride in the Year of Our Lord 1888- and she's Catholic, so pray for her, damn it, I don't care how confusing it is. And pray for us, to anyone. If the dead are about to flood Athens, divine goodwill couldn't hurt. Your prayers can be in Hindu, if you like. Now go home.”
― Leanna Renee Hieber, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker

“I bear the weight of countless generations. Those who came before me and I will carry the fruit of the generations who will come after; I am life; I am death; I am the reckoning itself.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades and Persephone: The Golden Blade

“The king brushed his hand over the throne, the fragile stone crumbling to dust beneath his fingers.
"Do you believe in forgiveness? Can an evil man be redeemed?”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades and Persephone: The Golden Blade

“He tore his eyes from her face and looked out the window, his dark hair obscuring his expression. "I woke up next to the Lethe once- I do not remember why.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades And Persephone: Curse Of The Golden Arrow

“A new patch of flowers grew as another drop of saliva dripped from Cerberus' jaw. "Your poison has begun to bloom," Hades observed with a grin. "Your mistress, Cerberus, has taught you well.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades and Persephone: The Golden Blade

“This was his burden to bear, this unlovable king, his penance. He was alone, and the light would never touch him. It was what he deserved.

As they drug yet another prisoner away, Hades lifted his head. "Let the next one in," the King of the Dead demanded.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades And Persephone: Curse Of The Golden Arrow

“My damnation stains me, Persephone, with you... with all of you. A crimson stain, a cursed badge I forever have to wear. My history is written in your world- it will always paint me as a monster until I become the very thing I have been pictured to be." His gaze moved gently over her. "Until I become what you think I am.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades And Persephone: Curse Of The Golden Arrow

“I could warn you about the dangers of letting a wolf loose with sheep," he said with shadowed eyes.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades And Persephone: Curse Of The Golden Arrow

“Oh, Persephone," he whispered, "if only you could lie with your eyes."

He stood abruptly, and she heard him leave the room. And as she remembered the dampness on his face and the sheen in his eyes, she realized that it had been tears that had shone in their depths.”
― Heidi Hastings, Hades And Persephone: Curse Of The Golden Arrow

“PERSEPHONE (the spring ballade)
Every heart
is blooming upon a field of doubt and the flowers autumn reaps
- he knows every name about.
They grow
never in line, although
always in the shape of each soul of every lonesome doubt.
So whenever
I wander along my sorrow's path the horizon behind me glows crimson with all the broken hearts it carries on.
A thought
yet not dreamt is a love unplanted by hands of grieve - For each who does not bloom by now is long lost in summer's eyes,
For autumn
reaps but does not give a single tear to water the ground in which he steers sometimes so aimlessly.”
― Laura Chouette

“Don’t you dare pity her.
She traded a suffering soul for a throne of bones.
She exchanged watchful eyes for a court of her own.
The seasons of the earth depended on the very breath she took.
She had death wrapped around her fingers and spring at her beck and call and the ruler of the heavens tasked with finding her.
She turned the world upside down to find freedom.
The daughter of flowers escaped her prison made out of roots and thorns and became the queen of death and forged her new home out of shadows and power.”
― Starlight Poet, The Space Between the Stars and Our Eyes: A Collection of Short Poems

“Her story is not just crimson pomegranates,
all of the splendour of spring bends to her will.
But this floral maiden also sends shudders of fear
with one delicate footstep through all of hell.

She reigns over the birth of flowers and gentle beings,
raises baby birds in her lap, and with fawns she plays.
She reigns over demons and demise alike
and before her fury, even Death himself pales.”
― Nikita Gill