Riordan Quotes & Sayings

I stared at him (Dionysus). You're ... you're married? But I thought you got in trouble for chasing a wood nymph- — Rick Riordan

Lord Bacchus, do you remember me? I helped you with that missing leopard in Sonoma."
Bacchus scratched his stubbly chin. "Ah ... yes. John Green."
"Jason Grace."
"Whatever," the god said. — Rick Riordan

[Yeah, thanks a lot, Sadie. You get to tell the part about the Land of the Dead. I get to describe Interstate 10 through Texas.] — Rick Riordan

I didn't like being a leader. I always had to appear confident for the sake of the others, even when I wasn't. — Rick Riordan

Besides, i'm a cat. i respect the sanctity of sleep. — Serpent's Shadow Rick Riordan

I wondered if I should start a small fire in Percy Jackson's sink, perhaps burn some bandages in thanks, but I decided that might strain that Jackson's hospitality. — Rick Riordan

This is the average age of my Hunters, and all young maidens for whom I am patron, before they go astray."
"Go astray?"
"Grow up. Become smitten with boys. Become silly, preoccupied, insecure. — Rick Riordan

He could't have survied a hundred foot drop. I'm sorry Annabeth. — Rick Riordan

You didn't believe I was dead"
"Never — Rick Riordan

Who is this lady?" he asked me.
"Britomartis," I said. "The Lady of Nets."
Leo looked dubious. "Does that include basketball and the Internet?"
"Just hunting and fishing nets," I said. — Rick Riordan

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. — Rick Riordan

Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes - Annabeth, PJ: The Lightning Thief — Rick Riordan

Most people call it The Book of the Dead," he told me. "Rich Egyptians were always buried with a copy, so they could have directions through the Duat to the Land of the Dead. It's like an Idiot's Guide to the Afterlife. — Rick Riordan

She said this in the same way you might say Fields of Punishment or Hades's gym shorts. — Rick Riordan

I stepped forward. Call me old-fashioned, but I wanted to keep his focus on me and not Annabeth. I think it's polite for a guy to protect his girlfriend from instant incineration. — Rick Riordan

Mrs. O' Leary is my pet. I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might've scared her. — Rick Riordan

I said hello to the poodle. — Rick Riordan

That little punk," Zeus grumbled. "Prometheus armed the cockroaches." Next to him, the goddess Hera said, "Uh, what?" "Nothing," Zeus muttered. He yelled to his guards: "Find Prometheus and get him in here. NOW! — Rick Riordan

You mean zodiac signs? I'm a Leo."
-"No stupid you're a Percy, I'm a Leo. — Rick Riordan

Annabeth nodded. "That's right.Alexander conquered Egypt.After he died, his general Ptolemy took over. He wanted the Egyptians to accept him as their pharaoh, so he mashed the Egyptian gods and the Greek gods together and made up new ones."
"Sounds messy," Sadie said. "I prefer my gods unmashed. — Rick Riordan

Annabeth Thalia and I hadn't seen each other in months but between
the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do we were too nervous to talk much.
Except for my mom. She talks more when she's nervous. By the time we finally got to Westover Hall it was getting dark and she'd told Annabeth and Thalia every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about me. — Rick Riordan

Me? I slept like the dead, which I hoped wasn't a sign of things to come. — Rick Riordan

Leo glanced back, his face streaked with soot. "Apollo, you sense anything?"
"Why is it my job to sense things? Just because I used to be a god of prophecy-"
"You're the one who's been having visions," Calypso reminded me. "You said your friend Meg would be here."
Just hearing Meg's name gave me a twinge of pain. "That doesn't mean I can pinpoint her location with my mind!" Zeus has revoked my access to GPS!"
"GPS?" Calypso asked.
"Godly positioning system."
"That's not a real thing! — Rick Riordan

He'd changed since the last summer. Instead of Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, he wore a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short. He look like an evil male model, showing off what the fashionable college-age villain was wearing to Harvard this year. — Rick Riordan

Piper patted his shoulder. Trust me, Valdez. Beautiful people never lie. — Rick Riordan

Identify the moral dilemma driving the novel. the successful novel will haunt a reader because it deals with some ethical or moral dilemma that makes the reader wonder what he or she would do in the protagonist's place. — Rick Riordan

I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher — Rick Riordan

Headless guys and gals Not loving the Midwest vibe Oh, look - a cheese ghost GEE, — Rick Riordan

You belong at Camp Jupiter. That sounded so ridiculous, Hazel almost laughed. She didn't belong in this place. She didn't even belong in this century. — Rick Riordan

The end of the world started when a Pegasus landed on the hood of my car. — Rick Riordan

Leo grabbed the neasrest thing he could find- a Porta-Potty seat- and threw it at the face. Leve me alone! — Rick Riordan

And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached. — Rick Riordan

Are you wearing clean underwear?' the statue asked.
'Hey, lady,' Leo said, 'that's getting personal. — Rick Riordan

The Temple of Dendur," Zia said. "Actually it was built by the Romans - "
"When they occupied Egypt," Carter said, like this was delightful information. "Augustus commissioned it."
"Yes," Zia said.
"Fascinating," I murmured. "Would you two like to be left alone with a history textbook? — Rick Riordan

Well, until next time.' Sadie threw her arms around Annabeth. Annabeth was a little shocked to be getting a hug from a girl she'd just met - a girl who could just as easily have seen Annabeth as an enemy. But the gesture made her feel good. In life-and-death situations, Annabeth had learned, you could make friends pretty quickly. She patted Sadie's shoulder. 'Stay safe. — Rick Riordan

A big glowing red dude with the head of a wolf guarded a herd of ... Were those unicorns? — Rick Riordan

Intelligence won wars, not brute force. — Rick Riordan

NEVER FORGET YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. STRIVE TO BE WORTHY. NORMALCY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS. — Rick Riordan

This potato - is this potato named Steve?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, stupid. That's Phil. The bread is Steve. — Rick Riordan

Mythologically speaking, if there's anything I hate worse than trios of old ladies, it's bulls. Last summer, I fought the Minotaur on top of Half-Blood Hill. This time what I saw up there was even worse: two bulls. And not just regular bulls - bronze ones the size of elephants. And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too. — Rick Riordan

The dead aren't scary. They are just sad. — Rick Riordan

He hated working with other people. They were always cramping his style, making him uncomfortable. — Rick Riordan

Elf magic," Mallory said. "Sneaky Vanir-style witchcraft unfit for a true warrior." She punched me in the arm. "I like you better already. — Rick Riordan

Piper had a new entry in her top-ten list of Times Piper Felt Useless.
Fighting Shrimpzilla with a dagger and a pretty voice? Not so effective. — Rick Riordan

The goddess smiled. "You are a good hero, Percy Jackson. Not too proud. I like that. But you have much to learn. When Dionysus was made a god, I gave up my throne for him. It was the only way to avoid a civil war among the gods."
"It unbalanced the Council," I remembered. "Suddenly there were seven guys and five girls."
Hestia shrugged. "It was the best solution, not a perfect one. Now I tend the fire. I fade slowly into the background. No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia. Most demigods don't even stop to talk to me. But that is no matter. I keep the peace. I yield when necessary. Can you do this? — Rick Riordan

Regardless of religion (or lack thereof), lovers of speculative fiction will swallow up these provocative stories. - Erin O'Riordan, — Tim Lieder

Instead of collapsing, Theseus swung it and smacked Periphetes upside the head, killing him instantly. 'Yep!' Theseus said. 'That's bronze over wood, all right! Thanks, man. I think I'll keep this.' Periphetes didn't argue, since he was dead. Theseus — Rick Riordan

the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, — Rick Riordan

To protect the snack cupboard from late-night nom-nom raids, — Rick Riordan

Leo didn't usually think of the ukulele as a sad instrument. (Pathetic, sure. But not sad.) Yet the tune Apollo strummed was so melancholy it broke Leo's feels. — Rick Riordan

Leo waited while the fish centaur put away his supplies. Aphros's lobster-claw horns kept swimming around in his thick hair, and Leo had to resist the urge to try and rescue them. — Rick Riordan

Besides, your a cat.Its your nature to think your the center of the universe."
She stared at him blankly. "But I am the center of the universe. — Rick Riordan

Hermes gazed up at the stars. 'My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. It doesn't matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don't appreciate your genius for inventing the Internet
— Rick Riordan

How do you greet a god? If there's an etiquette guide for that, I haven't read it. I'm never sure if I'm supposed to shake hands, kneel, or bow and shout, "We're not worthy!" I knew Hermes better than most of the Olympians. Over the years, he'd helped me out several times. Unfortunately last summer I'd also fought his demigod son Luke, who'd been corrupted by the Titan Kronos, in a mortal combat smack-down for the fate of the world. Luke's death hadn't been entirely my fault, but it still put a damper on my relationship with Hermes. I decided to start simple. "Hi. — Rick Riordan

I promise to keep her secure. Then I took two large wads a candle wax, kneaded them into earplugs, and stuff them into my ears. Annabeth nodded sarcastically, letting me know the air plugs are a real fashion statement. I made a face at her ... — Rick Riordan

Leo could run pretty fast when someone was trying to kill him. Sadly, he'd had a lot of practice. — Rick Riordan

Outcast!" When he'd disappeared into the bushes, Juniper wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to get you involved. Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don't want to make an enemy of him." "No problem," I said. "I've got worse enemies than overweight satyrs." Nico walked back to us. "Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well. — Rick Riordan

If you asked most kids, "Hey, you want to summon fire or lightning or magical makeup?" they'd think it sounded pretty cool. But those powers went along with hard stuff, like sitting in a sewer in the middle of winter, running from monsters, losing your memory, watching your friends almost get cooked, and having dreams that warned you of your own death. — Rick Riordan

Wine is a new drink," Dionysus explained. "But it's more than just a drink. It's a religious experience! — Rick Riordan

And," Annabeth continued, "it reminds me how long we've known each other. We were twelve, Percy. Can you believe that?"
"No, he admitted. "So ... you knew you liked me from that moment?"
She smirked. "I hated you at first. You annoyed me. Then I tolerated you for a few years. Then - "
"Okay, fine."
She leaned in and kissed: him a good, proper kiss without anyone watching - no Romans anywhere, no screaming satyr chaperones.
She pulled away. "I missed you, Percy."
Percy wanted to tell her the same thing, but it seemed too small a comment. While he had been on the Roman side, he'd kept himself alive almost solely by thinking of Annabeth. I missed you didn't really cover that. — Rick Riordan

Poseidon's trident was also all over the place, since Peter the Great wanted to stress Russia's sea power. I especially like the trident on top of an obelisk
what a great Egyptian/Greek mix up! — Rick Riordan

Zia turned toward us, her expression grim. "I will show you to your quarters. In the morning, your testing begins. We will see what magic you know, and how you know it."
I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but I exchanged an uneasy look with Sadie.
"Sounds fun," Sadie ventured. "And it we fail this test?"
Zia regarded her coldly. "This is not the sort of test you fail, Sadie Kane. You pass or you die. — Rick Riordan

People lie. Promises are broken. A — Rick Riordan

Don't blame me, boss! he pleaded when he saw me. The weird girl made me do it! — Rick Riordan

Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron's flank but was afraid to come closer.
Pony? — Rick Riordan

Could you do a glamour and turn into something smaller?" I asked it. "Preferably not a chain, since it's no longer the 1990s?" The sword didn't reply (duh), but I imagined it was humming at a more interrogative pitch, like, Such as what? "I dunno. Something pocket-size and innocuous. A pen, maybe?" The sword pulsed, almost like it was laughing. I imagined it saying, A pen sword. That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. — Rick Riordan

Sometimes things don't end okay. — Rick Riordan

I knew there was a reason I didnt turn you into a banana slug."
Leonid'd eyes widened. "No banana slug! Please!"
"It was a compliement, silly. Forbidden is good! Sadie likes forbidden! — Rick Riordan

How do we beat her? I asked.
You pretty much don't, Horus said. She is the incarnation of the sun's wrath. Back in the day when Ra was active, she would have been much more impressive, but still.She's unstoppable. A born killer. A slaying machine
"Okay, I get it!" I yelled. — Rick Riordan

Apparently, the Athena Parthenos had wanted them to visit a place with educational value, because she'd landed right next to a historical marker that read MASSACRE OF BUFORD, on a gravel layby at the intersection of Nowhere and Nothing. — Rick Riordan

Leo. Jason said, you're wierd. Yeah, you tell me that a lot. Leo grinned. But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on! — Rick Riordan

The coach could do a goat-hoof tap dance around Nico's head and the son of Hades wouldn't even budge. — Rick Riordan

To all those who've stepped out of their own shadow. For those who haven't, the sunshine awaits you. — Deirdre Riordan Hall

Poseidon put his weathered hand on my shoulder. "Percy, lesser beings do many horrible things in the name of the gods. That does not mean we gods approve. The way our sons and daughters act in our names ... well, it usually says more about them than it does about us. And you, Percy, are my favorite son." He smiled, and at that moment, just being in the kitchen with him was the best birthday present I ever got. — Rick Riordan

Most Yancy field — Rick Riordan

That split second I thought about the days when my mom used to work at the Grand Central Terminal candy shop. — Rick Riordan

The game played a song and Mr. D progressed to level 254. Ha! — Rick Riordan

What exactly did you find in Atlanta?"
Frank unzipped his backpack and started bringing out souvenirs. "Some peach preserves. A couple of T-shirts. A snow globe. And, um, these not-really-Chinese handcuffs."
Annabeth forced herself to stay calm. "How about you start from the top - of the story, not the backpack. — Rick Riordan

I tried very hard. But I can't help it. The Fates are cruel. They sent you to me, my brave one, knowing that you would break my heart. — Rick Riordan

My prison may be my only sanctuary. — Rick Riordan

When he pulled away, he smiled kindly at me. I felt so good, I'll admit I teared up a little. I guess until that moment I hadn't allowed myself to realize just how terrified I had been the last few days.
"Dad-"
"Shhh," he said. "No hero is above fear, Percy. And you have risen above every hero. Not even Hercules- — Rick Riordan

They're Lares. House gods."
"House gods," Percy said. "Like ... smaller than real gods, but larger than apartment gods? — Rick Riordan

Besides, if she's a goddess, why hasn't she busted herself out? — Rick Riordan

Um," Grover said. "Percy?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought you'd want to know."
"Yeah?"
"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice.After that ... well ... he's hungry. — Rick Riordan

Normally my sister, Sadie, or some of our other initiates from Brooklyn House would've come with me. But they were all at the First Nome, in Egypt, for a weeklong training session on controlling cheese demons(yes, they're a real thing; believe me, you don't want to know) — Rick Riordan

Jason's heart lifted when he saw Nico di Angelo on the front lines with the Greeks, slashing his way through a crowd of two-headed men. — Rick Riordan

A thousand curses on Nobody! — Rick Riordan

I woke to a bucket of ice water in my face.
"Sadie! Get up," Zia said.
"God!" I yelled. "Was that necessary?"
"No," admitted Zia. — Rick Riordan

The real ghosts are the ones that take up residence in your mind, — Kate Riordan

Let's start again. Hi, I'm Samirah al-Abbas... You can call me Sam. Everyone does. I'll be your Valkyrie this evening. Pleased to meet you properly... I will now escort you to dinner." She forced a smile. "If you embarrass me, I'll be the first to kill you. — Rick Riordan

For the rest of my life I would always be thinking about her. She would always be my biggest what if. -Perseus Jackson — Rick Riordan

I looked into his eyes, and I realized he was the same man I'd seen in my dreams. His face might be totally different, but the same soul was in there, the same intelligence and all the sadness. — Rick Riordan

Thalia had gotten herself turned into a pine tree when she was twelve. Me ... Well, I was doing
my best not to follow her example. I had nightmares about what Poseidon might turn me into
if I were ever on the verge of death
plankton, maybe. Or a floating patch of kelp. — Rick Riordan

I gave the dwarves an arrogant look, like, Yeah, that's right. I've got a talking disco sword and you don't. — Rick Riordan

Greek women were not allowed to be: free and untamed. In fact, Artemis is a bit of a paradox. On the one hand, her commitment to purity must have been greatly admired by Ancient Greeks; yet she is also untamable and answers to no man. She is truly the eternal wild child who never has to grow up and shoulder the responsibilities that adulthood brings. She never has to compromise herself or conform to any of society's standards. No wonder she is associated with the moon - completely untouchable, forever unattainable. If offered the option of becoming one of Artemis' immortal maidens, freed forever from the shackles of marriage or slavery, I think many Ancient Greek women would have jumped on that bandwagon as it careened past — Rick Riordan

Middle of his forehead. Talk about a face only a mother could love. Well, Gaea loved these guys. She named them the Elder Cyclopes, and — Rick Riordan

I wondered if I would appear on a temple wall painting someday. A blonde Egyptian girl with purple highlights running sideways through the palm trees, screaming "Yikes!" in hieroglyphics as Neith chased after me. The thought of some poor archaeologist trying to figure that out almost lifted my spirits. — Rick Riordan

Ever since my famous battle with Python, I've had a phobia of scaly reptilian creatures. (Especially if you include my stepmother, Hera. BOOM!) — Rick Riordan

I had a crush on Percy," Nico spat. "That's the truth. That's the big secret. — Rick Riordan

Hey, show up with an army of undead warriors to save the day, and suddenly you're everybody's best friend. — Rick Riordan