Quotes & Sayings About Achilles Heel

He steps to the side to make room for me, but even so, his shoulders take up half my space. Not that I mind. Men are my Achilles heel, my Kryptonite. I love their smell, their taste, the sounds they make when they come inside of me. But between a full-time job, law school, hours of reading cases, and study groups, I barely have time to sleep, much less date. — Magda Alexander

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. — Robert Heilbroner

Most liberals think of civil liberties as their Achilles heel. It isn't. — Joe Biden

I was a good kid, but I've had one Achilles' heel that's stayed with me through the years: talking. I simply could not shut the fuck up-I still can't and that small issue has gotten me in all sorts of trouble. — Andy Cohen

Our dependence on foreign energy sources is our Achilles heel, not just in the realm of diplomacy, but in terms of our future as the world's economic leader. — Judy Biggert

Very well." Artemis blinked, her sweet lips parting as if she didn't believe what she'd heard. "What?" "I'll do it." He turned to go, his mind already making plans, when he felt her fingers clutch at his sleeve. "You'll take him from Bedlam?" "Yes." Perhaps his decision had already been made from the moment he'd seen tears in her eyes. He had a weakness, it seemed, a fault more terrible than any Achilles's heel: he couldn't stand the sight of her tears. — Elizabeth Hoyt

It will make you powerful. But it will also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal's, but your weaknesses, your failings will increase as well."
You mean I'll have a bad heel?" I said. "Couldn't I just, like, wear something besides sandals? No offense. — Rick Riordan

The Achilles Heel of the Americas was the lack of cultural confidence typical of new settlers. — Arthur Erickson

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) sees U.S. battle networks - "which rely heavily on satellites and the Internet to identify targets, coordinate attacks, guide 'smart bombs' and more" - as its "Achilles' heel. — Robert D. Kaplan

He couldn't walk away. Not when the wallflower needed rescuing.

His dratted Achilles' heel, no matter how disastrous the outcome tended to be. — Erica Ridley

But don't tell me I'm not sensitive to beauty. That's my Achilles' heel, and don't you forget it. To me, everything is beautiful. Show me a pink sunset and I'm limp, by God ... — J.D. Salinger

In questioning initially whether I am a great investor, I open the door to question whether other similarly esteemed public icons like Bill Miller are as well. It seems, perhaps, that the longer and longer you keep at it in this business the more and more time you have to expose your Achilles heel - wherever and whatever that might be. — Bill Gross

You are invulnerable, you have no Achilles' heel.
You will go on, and when you have prevailed
You can say: at this point many a one has failed.
But what have I, but what have I, my friend,
To give you, what can you receive from me?
Only the friendship and the sympathy
Of one about to reach her journey's end. — T. S. Eliot

One of the key characteristics of an elite corps is its susceptibility to those more powerful than itself. Elite power is naturally attracted to a power hierarchy and fits itself neatly, obediently into the one that promises the most personal benefits. Here is the Achilles' heel of armies, police and bureaucracies. — Frank Herbert

Stuckley drew back his sword with evident satisfaction. "She really is your Achilles' heel, isn't she Furey?"
"No." Lorcan said, preparing his own attack. "Not my Achilles' heel.The love of my life. And I'll do whatever it takes to protect her. — Justin Somper

The heel of Achilles — William Strunk Jr.

Listen, I don't care what you say about my race, creed, or religion, Fatty, but don't tell me I'm not sensitive to beauty. That's my Achilles' heel, and don't you forget it. To me, everything is beautiful. Show me a pink sunset, and I'm limp, by God. Anything. Peter Pan. Even before the curtain goes up at Peter Pan I'm a goddamn puddle of tears. — J.D. Salinger

If I had to think of what I would do different in my whole career, it's that I never would have picked up a beer, bottle of vodka. That definitely changed my life. That is an Achilles' heel for me. — Jayson Williams

The two things that can hurt you are if you need money or if you need fame. Those are the things that can be your Achilles heel. But if you don't need money and you don't need fame, then you're free. — Dana Carvey

The Domain Name Server (DNS) is the Achilles heel of the Web. The important thing is that it's managed responsibly. — Tim Berners-Lee

Nowadays people are born to find fault. When they look at Achilles, they see only his heel. — Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Europe's enduring localism, which had been the weak link in Christendom, became in turn the Achilles heel of the dynastic state. — Mark Greengrass

You have the power to kill, in the knife you hold
But for centuries my story will be told."
"A weapon you not need to be able to kill,
Just a fair knowledge of Achilles' heel — Dixy Gandhi

The craving for recognition is every artist's Achilles heel. — Marty Rubin

Anybody who has political ambition has an Achilles heel. — James Callis

I ruptured my plantaris muscle. It runs through the calf and goes down the side of your achilles and stretches right to the heel. — Lee Westwood

The impulse to explain is the Achilles' heel of all genre work, and the most sophisticated artists within every genre know better than to expose their worlds to the sharp knife of intellection. — Tom Bissell

Have a courage to repulse those people who dare to affront you because everyone has an Achilles' heel. Outshine them, and let your light shine on their damned faces, INTENSELY. — Maverick

Fallon, you're my Achilles Heel. I want to fuck you senseless, until you feel me imprinted on you even when I'm not inside you. But that's all I want - all I can allow myself. — Naima Simone

Ah, beer, my one weakness. My Achille's heel, if you will. — Homer

Personal disillusionment accompanied by self-pity and self-loathing are the Achilles' heel of modern humankind, representing the weakness of the human spirit. — Kilroy J. Oldster

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 — Rick Riordan

Levi kicked her chair. "Cath. Read me your fan fiction. I want to know what happens next."
She opened her computer slowly, as if she were still thinking about it. As if there were any way she was going to say no. Levi wanted to know what happened next. That question was Cath's Achilles' heel. — Rainbow Rowell

Like Achilles, the hero who forgot his heel, or like Icarus who, flying close to the sun, forgot that his wings were made of wax, we should be wary when triumphant ideas seem unassailable, for then there is all the more reason to predict their downfall. — Dwight Longenecker

Oliver couldn't walk away. Not when the wallflower needed rescuing. His goddamn Achilles heel, no matter how disastrous the outcome tended to be. He just wished his heroics would work out for once.
He kept his eyes trained on the pretty black-haired American, every muscle tensed for action. An eternity ticked by. No one approached her. She had no one to dance with, to talk to. She looked... lost. Hauntingly lonely. Frightened and defiant all at the same time.
'Twould be better for them both if he turned around right now. Never met her eye. Never exchanged a single word. Left her to her fate and him to his.
It was already too late. — Erica Ridley

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. — David Bazan

Ah, Lyon: the Achilles' heel of this family. She had forgotten about Lyon, and about disappearing Redmonds. — Julie Anne Long

India experienced the traditional state-building process in reverse order: unlike Europe, for instance, India instituted full democracy and then set about building a state. Much of the West did precisely the opposite. As a result, underdeveloped institutions have been the Achilles' heel of Indian democracy from the outset. — Milan Vaishnav

Achilles, without his heel, you wouldn't even know his name today. — Stan Lee

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium--
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.--
'[kisses her]'
Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!--
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wertenberg be sack'd;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appear'd to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa's azur'd arms;
And none but thou shalt be my paramour! — Christopher Marlowe

She wanted to believe him so much, but fear held her in its grasp more firmly than ever before. And if she made the wrong decision, she would have to live with the result for the rest of her life. That could be a long time and she'd already made one wrong choice regarding marriage and love. What if she made another? She sat there remembering the way he'd been good to her children, the way he'd made love to her that first time, soothing her fears. She remembered how he'd finally begun to teach her the shipping business, the impromptu baseball game with Philip, the picnic in her office, the trip to his family home, and all the little things that made her laugh. From the very first he'd been kind to her, while lying repeatedly regarding the business. The business seemed to be his Achilles' heel and he'd just given it to her. — Sylvia McDaniel

Pattern, as he saw it, equals redundancy. In ordinary language, redundancy serves as an aid to understanding. In cryptanalysis, that same redundancy is the Achilles' heel. — James Gleick

The Achilles heel of most institutions is that they have to trade, while an individual trader is free to trade or stay out of the market when he wants. — Anonymous

When we consider the weak and nerveless periods of some literary men, who perchance in feet and inches come up to the standard oftheir race, and are not deficient in girth also, we are amazed at the immense sacrifice of thews and sinews. What! these proportions, these bones,
and this their work! Hands which could have felled an ox have hewed this fragile matter which would not have tasked a lady's fingers! Can this be a stalwart man's work, who has a marrow in his back and a tendon Achilles in his heel? — Henry David Thoreau

It should be the aim of grand strategy to discover and pierce the Achilles' heel of the opposing government's power to make war. Strategy, in turn, should seek to penetrate a joint in the harness of the opposing forces. To apply one's strength where the opponent is strong weakens oneself disproportionately to the effect attained. To strike with strong effect, one must strike at weakness. — B.H. Liddell Hart

If we never challenge our shortcomings, we ensure that they remain our Achilles' heel. — Gina Greenlee

A great industrial nation may conquer the world in the span of a single life, but its Achilles' heel is time. Its children, what of them? — Charles Lindbergh

First of all, most traders don't have a winning strategy. Second, even among those traders who do, many don't follow their strategy. Trading puts pressure on weaker human traits and seems to seek out each individual's Achilles' heel. — Gil Blake

I'm not known as a singer, but in life I like to do things that are a bit beyond my reach to keep myself from slipping. I find that technology has made it so that we don't need to have a memory system, and as I get older I want to do things that challenge me. What could be more challenging than doing this show with a knee that's been replaced, after tearing my Achilles heel with a baker's cyst on the back of my knee? And then I have to try and dance! — George Hamilton

All interesting heroes have an Achilles' heel. — Jo Nesbo

Our workers comp debt is the Achilles heel of our state's economy, and I firmly believe that in order to create more good jobs in West Virginia this system must be fixed and it must be fixed now. We cannot afford to wait even one more minute. — Joe Manchin

Achilles only had an Achilles heel. I have an entire Achilles body. — Woody Allen

Books were his Achilles heel. She — Stephen King

I wish I had more confidence. I think that's probably my Achilles' heel. If I had more, I probably would have felt emboldened to make more interesting music earlier on, or really go for it in an artistic or songwriting sense. — Beck

The book is called 'Most Talkative,' because I was voted most talkative in high school. And I've never stopped talking. My mouth has been my greatest asset and my biggest Achilles' heel. — Andy Cohen

I can endure many things, but cold and wet is my Achilles' heel. I could withstand the heat of the desert or the tropical forests described by travelers to the southern regions of America without incident, I think. But unrelenting rain and cold I simply cannot abide."

"How unfortunate that you should be born in England, then," Quill said with a laugh. — Manda Collins