I still don't get it" Coach Hedge muttered as they roamed the centre aisle. "They named a whole town after Leo's table?""I think the town was here first, Coach" Nico said.

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.

To me sometimes a mute sky is more expressive than the roaring sea

Our victory is sure to come and I can endure anything but recreancy to principle.

When the storytelling goes bad in a society, the result is decadence.

When you adapt a book, you really have to cut it to the essence.

Give thy love freely, do not count the cost: So beautiful a thing was never lost.

The goal is to reduce the size and scope of government spending, not to focus on the deficit. The deficit is the symptom of the disease.

Norm Smith personally came and signed me up to the Melbourne Football Club. The fact that I then played cricket for Melbourne Cricket Club - the footy club didn't like it that much.

Your father leaving your family, that's your bedrock for all your future relationships and that's your security when you're a kid.

I'm terrified of switching the computer on because there are so many poems

I have the rare privilege of talking to my dad every night at 10 p.m. and hearing about what he did that day.