Quotes from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Be careful of love. It'll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can't be fixed.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“You deal with mythological stuff for a few years, you learn that paradises are usually places where you get killed.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“You are okay?" he asked. "Not eaten by monsters?"
"Not even a little bit." I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.
"Yay!" he said. "Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!"
I hoped he didn't mean all at the same time, but I told him absolutely, we'd have a lot of fun this summer.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Rachel: You're a half-blood, too?
Annabeth: Shhh! Just announce it to the world, how about?
Rachel: Okay. Hey, everybody! These two aren't human! They're half Greek god!...They don't seem to care.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Jumping out a window five hundred feet above ground is not usually my idea of fun. Especially when I'm wearing bronze wings and flapping my arms like a duck.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Monkey bar," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these." She leaped onto to the first rung and start swinging her way across. She was scared of tiny spiders, but not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“My mother made a squeaking sound that might of been either "yes" or "help".
Poseidon took it as a yes and came in.
Paul was looking back and forth between us, trying to read our expressions.
Finally he stepped forward.
"Hi, I'm Paul Blofis."
Poseidon raised an eyebrow and then shook his hand.
"Blowfish, did you say?"
"Ah, no. Blofis, actually."
"Oh, I see," Poseidon said. "A shame. I quite like blowfish. I am Poseidon."
"Poseidon? That's an interesting name."
"Yes, I like it. I've gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon."
"Like the god of the sea."
"Very much like that, yes"
"Well!" My mother interrupted. "Um, were so glad you could drop by. Paul, this is Percy's father."
"Ah." Paul nodded, though he didn't look real pleased. "I see."
Poseidon smiled at me. "There you are, my boy. And Tyson, hello, son!"
"Daddy!" Tyson [shouted]...
Paul's jaw dropped. He stared at my mother. "Tyson is..."
"Not mine," she promised. "It's a long story.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“New lesson, class. Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a celestial bronze sword. This change is perfectly normal, and will happen to you right now if you don't BACK OFF!" - Percy”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Getting something and having the wits to use it...those are two different things.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“I'm calm," Rachel insisted. "Every time I'm around you, some monsters attack us. What's to be nervous about?"
"Look," I said. "I'm sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you our or anything."
"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."
"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“I turned to Dionysus. "You cured him?"
"Madness is my specialty. It was quite simple."
"But...you did something nice. Why?"
He raised and eyebrow. "I am nice! I simple ooze niceness, Perry Johansson. Haven't you noticed?”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“But you'll be killed!"
"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."
Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“They send a person who can never stay," she whispered. "Who can never accept my offer of companionship for more than a little while. They send me a hero I can't help ... just the sort of person I can't help falling in love with."
...
As I sailed into the lake I realized the Fates really were cruel. They sent Calypso someone she couldn't help but love. But it worked both ways. For the rest of my life I would be thinking about her. She would always be my biggest what if.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“I couldn’t miss Percy’s fifteenth birthday,” Poseidon said. “Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!”

"That’s true,” Paul said. “I used to teach ancient history.”

Poseidon’s eyes twinkled. “That’s me. Ancient history.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Good fighting with you, Seaweed Brain."
Ditto.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“There were a lot of answers I might've given, from "I knew that" to "LIAR!" to "Yeah right, and I'm Zeus." - Percy, after Quintus says that he is Daedalus”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“A demigod!" one snarled.
"Eat it!" yelled another.
But that's as far as they got before I slashed a wide arc with Riptide and vaporized the entire front row of monsters.
"Back off!" I yelled at the rest, trying to sound fierce. Behind them stood their instructor--a six-foot tall telekhine with Doberman fangs snarling at me. I did my best to stare him down.
"New lesson, class," I announced. "Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a celestial bronze sword. This change is completely normal, and will happen to you right now if you don't BACK OFF!"
To my surprise, it worked. The monsters backed off, but there was at least twenty of them. My fear factor wasn't going to last that long.
I jumped out of the cart, yelled, "CLASS DISMISSED!" and ran for the exit.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“As I got closer to the fence, I held my shirt over my nose to block the smell. One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at me. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's.
I tried to talk to him in my mind. I can do that with most horses.
Hi, I told him. I'm going to clean your stables. Won't that be great?
Yes! The horse said. Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood!
But I'm Poseidon's son, I protested. He created horses.
Usually this gets me VIP treatment in the equestrian world, not this time.
Yes! The horse agreed enthusiastically. Poseidon can come in, too! We will eat you both! Seafood!
Seafood! The other horses chimed in as they waded through the field.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“So which way now, Sacagawea?" - Annabeth to Rachel”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“I held out a lead figurine of Hades—the little Mythomagic statue Nico had abandoned when he fled camp last winter.
Nico hesitated. "I don’t play that game anymore. It’s for kids."
"It’s got four thousand attack power," I coaxed.
"Five thousand," Nico corrected. "But only if your opponent attacks first."
I smiled. "Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“A Vampire!" I stammered. Then I noticed her legs. Below the cheerleader skirt, her left leg was brown and shaggy with a donkey's hoof. Her right leg was shaped like a human leg was it was made of bronze. "Uhh, a vampire with-"
"Don't mention the legs!" Tammi snapped. "It's rude to make fun.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Annabeth hesitated. "Then we'll all go."
"No," I said. "It's too dangerous. If they got hold of Nico, or Rachel for that matter, Kronos could use them.You stay here and guard them."
What I didn't say: I was also worried about Annabeth. I didn't trust what she would do if she saw Luke again. He had fooled her and manipulated her too many times before.
"Percy, don't," Rachel said. "Don't go up there alone."
"I'll be quick," I promised. "I won't do anything stupid."
Annabeth took her Yankees cap out of her pocket. "At least take this. And be carful."
"Thanks." I remembered the last time Annabeth and I had parted ways, when she'd given me a kiss for luck in Mount St. Helens. This time, all I got was the hat.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Red cattle," Annabeth said. "The cattle of the sun."
"What?" I [Percy] asked.
"They're sacred to Apollo."
"Holy cows?”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Are you guys busy?" Juniper asked.
"Well," I said, "we're in the middle of this game against a bunch of monsters and we're trying not to die."
"We're not busy," Annabeth said.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“I thought maybe he was seeing another tree. - Juniper”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“When I got across, I looked back and saw Tyson giving Grover a piggyback ride (or was it a goatyback ride?).”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Percy!” he bellowed. He dropped his broom and ran at me. If you’ve never been charged by an enthusiastic Cyclops wearing a flowered apron and rubber cleaning gloves, I’m telling you, it’ll wake you up quick.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Battle of the Labyrinth

About the author

Popular quotes

“Тако смо блиски с људима да помислимо како је то веза за цео живот, а онда их одједном, преко ноћи, изгубимо што из вида, што из сећања, то је жива истина, помислих у бержери.”
― Thomas Bernhard, quote from Woodcutters

“MAYBE IT WOULD be a good idea to rearrange the flat a bit,’ said Mum. ‘I’ve been thinking. You and Kendall might like your own den, more of a play space. So how about us turning the bedroom into your room. It’s purple too, your favourite colour.’ ‘Lilac isn’t purple.’ ‘It’s light purple, Miss Picky. Anyway, I was thinking of getting a little portable telly for you two. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then the living room could be more – well, my room.’ ‘And you want to put a socking great bed in it for you and Jake,’ I said coldly. ‘No I don’t! Well. I was thinking about one of them sofa beds. Then if Jake should want to stay over . . .’ ‘Why can’t he stay in his own place?’ ‘He hasn’t exactly got his own place,’ said Mum. ‘He’s staying with a friend at the moment.’ ‘Why can’t he get his own place, then?’ I said. ‘Because he hasn’t got any money. He’s a student.’ ‘They give them rooms in the university, don’t they?’ ‘Only the first year. For God’s sake, Lola Rose, give it a rest. He’s coming to live with us and that’s that. I don’t see why you’ve got such a problem with it. We’re in love, can’t you see?’ ‘He doesn’t love you. He’s just shacking up with us because he hasn’t got anywhere else. And you spend a fortune on him. Our fortune.’ Mum slapped me straight across the face. Kendall was watching. He cried. I didn’t cry. I stared Mum out. ‘You only slapped me because you know it’s true.’ ‘I slapped you because you’re a spoilt little cow,’ Mum snapped. ‘What’s the matter with you, Lola Rose? You can’t be jealous, can you?”
― Jacqueline Wilson, quote from Lola Rose

“If it looks like a duck and quacks likes a duck, it's a duck, right?”
― Mark Peter Hughes, quote from Lemonade Mouth

“The voice of the Socratic dream vision is the only sign of any misgivings about the limits of logic: Perhaps – thus he might have asked himself – what is not intelligible to me is not necessarily unintelligent? Perhaps there is a realm of wisdom from which the logician is exiled? Perhaps art is even a necessary correlative of, and supplement for science?”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from The Birth of Tragedy

“ (…) não existe, talvez, nada mais assustador e mais sinistro em toda a pré-história do homem que a sua técnica para se lembrar das coisas.” Alguma coisa é impressa, para que permaneça na memória: apenas o que dói incessantemente é recordado” – este é uma proposição central da mais antiga (e, infelizmente, também a mais duradoura) filosofia na Terra. Uma pessoa pode até sentir-se tentada a dizer que algo deste horror – através da qual em tempos se fizeram promessas por toda a Terra e foram dadas garantias e empenhamentos -, algo disto ainda sobrevive sempre que a solenidade, seriedade, secretismo e cores sombrias se encontram na vida dos homens e das nações: o passado, o passado mais longo, mais profundo e mais desagradável, respira sobre nós e brota em nós sempre que nos tornamos “sérios”. As coisas nunca avançaram sem sangue, tortura e vítimas, quando o homem achou necessário forjar uma memória de si próprio. Os sacrifícios e as oferendas mais horrendos (…), as mutilações mais repulsivas (…), os rituais mais cruéis de todos os cultos religiosos ( e todas as religiões são, nas suas fundações mais profundas, sistemas de crueldade) - todas estas coisas tem origem naquele instinto que adivinhou que a mais poderosa ajuda da memória era a dor.
Num certo sentido, todo o ascetismo faz parte disto: algumas ideias tem de tornar-se inextinguíveis, omnipresentes, inesquecíveis, “fixas” – com o objectivo de hipnotizar todo o sistema nervoso e intelecto através destas “ideias fixas” – e os procedimentos e formas de vida ascéticos são o meio de libertar essas ideias da competição com todas as outras ideias, para torna-las “inesquecíveis”. Quanto maior era a memoria da humanidade, mais assustadores parecem ser os seus costumes; a dureza dos códigos de punição, em particular, dá uma medida da quantidade de esforço que é necessária para triunfar sobre o esquecimento e tornar estes escravos efémeros da emoção e do desejo atentos a alguns requisitos primitivos de coabitação social. (…) Para dominar (…) recorreram a meios assustadores (…) de apedrejamento, (…), a empalação na estaca, a dilaceração ou o espezinhamento por cavalos, (…), queimar o criminoso em azeite (…), a prática popular de esfolamento, (…) cobrir o criminoso de mel e deixá-lo às moscas num sol abrasador. Com a ajuda deste tipo de imagens e procedimentos, a pessoa acaba por memorizar cinco ou seis “Não farei”, fazendo assim a promessa em troca das vantagens oferecidas pela sociedade. E de facto! com a ajuda deste tipo de memória, a pessoa acaba por “ver a razão”! Ah, razão, seriedade, domínio das emoções, todo o caso sombrio que dá pelo nome de pensamento, todos esses privilégios e exemplos do homem: que preço elevado que foi pago por eles! Quanto sangue e horror está no fundo de todas as “coisas boas”!”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Genealogy of Morals

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.