Eventually we all must return home.

Nico studied his face – his sea-green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson seemed like a regular guy now, not a mythical figure. Not someone to idolize or crush on.

You will suffer, son of Hades!’ What else is new? Nico thought.

A wind that blows aimlessly is no good to anyone.

So, ’ Nico said, ‘since we’re going to be spending at least a year seeing each other at camp, I think I should clear the air.’ Percy’s smile wavered. ‘What do you mean?

We’re fine.’ A few feet away, Aurum snarled quietly, which meant Nico was lying.

He hated when his own advice applied to himself.

Nico found a sort of freedom in knowing that eventually, no matter what happened, he would end up at the foot of his father’s throne.

Then Thalia Grace became their leader and started recruiting even more young women to their cause, which grated on Nico – as if Bianca’s death could be forgotten. As if she could be replaced.

He'd gone from sixteen to seventy-five in a matter of seconds, but the old-man smell happened instantly, like boom. Congratulations! You stink!

Jason hated being an old man.

She doesn't understand that doors, walls, fences, ceilings - they're helpless to keep out what determinedly desires to get in.

A red-hot belief in eternal glory is probably the best antidote to human panic that there is.

Spiritual life is contractual. The sacred cannot dialogue with the unresponsive.

Nature is with us if we can learn how to align with it and not break the basic laws that generate life.

Gold medals are made out of sweat, blood and tears and effort in the gym every day.

Young people don't have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did. All they've got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. There's all these kids running around wanting to be killer cops.

What ails the truth is that it is mainly uncomfortable, and often dull. The human mind seeks something more amusing, and more caressing.

I always try to make myself be very approachable and easy to talk to, so hopefully people will feel that they can approach me.

There is a real world independent of our senses; the laws of nature were not invented by man, but forced on him by the natural world. They are the expression of a natural world order.

Where there are few expectations, expediency wins.