1AM > 1AM's Quotes

“To Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy,
I hope you're pleased with yourself”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“No.
I refuse to share this part of my story. It was the lowest, most humiliating, most awful week in my four-thousand plus years of life. Tragedy. Disaster. Heartbreak. I will not tell you about it.
Why are you still here? Go away.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Remember what it's like to be human.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Where's Jason?”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“But my point is... I was projecting my anger onto someone else, someone safer. I think you might be doing some of the same thing now, Meg. You're raging at Caligula because it's safer than raging at your stepfather. ... Anger is good. It means you're making progress. But be aware that you might be angry right now at the wrong person. I don't want you charging blindly into battle against this particular emperor.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Aha, I thought. Even among the pandai there were frustrated musicians. Amax suddenly reminded me of my father, Zeus, when he came storming down the hallway on Mount Olympus (literally storming, with thunder, lightning, and torrential rain) and ordered me to stop playing my infernal zither music. A totally unfair demand. Everyone knows 2:00 a.m. is the optimal time to practice the zither.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I give you my heart
I mean metaphorically
Put away that knife”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Very well. But I have warned you. In this pages, only suffering awaits.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Grover, stop eating your seat belt. You're setting a bad example.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“You would destroy your own grandfather?" I asked.
Medea shrugged. "Why not? You gods are all family, but you're constantly trying to kill each other."
I hate it when evil sorceresses have a point.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Luckily, I had lots of room to cry in privacy, since I was stuck in the backseat.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I tried not to weep or wet my pants. I succeeded at one of those. I’ll let you decide which.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Let's restrict ourselves to military botany. What's a -? DUCK!"
Now, gentle reader, you be the judge. Was I asking the question What's a duck? Of course I wasn't. Despite Meg's later complaints, I was trying to warn her that the nearest strix was charging straight at her face.
She didn't understand my warning, which was not my fault.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Girl, I see you, I felt like saying. You are not subtle, and we really need to have a talk about crushing on dryads.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Piper directed me into downtown Los Angeles.
I considered this a bad sign. "Downtown Los Angeles" had always struck me as an oxymoron, like "hot ice cream" or "military intelligence". (Yes, Ares, that was an insult.)”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Heroes have to be ready to sacrifice themselves.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Bless Piper’s intuition, appealing to Meg’s stubborn streak. And bless Meg’s willful, weed-covered little heart. She interposed herself between me and Medea. “Apollo’s my dumb servant. You can’t have him.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I used to be the god of poetry, which does not mean I am a walking encyclopedia of every obscure line ever written.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Grover explained what we'd heard in the dumpster. Then he backed up and explained why we'd been in a dumpster. Then he explained how I'd wet myself and that was why I was wearing hot-pink camo pants.
"Ohhh." All the dryads nodded, as if this was the real question that had been bothering them.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Don't make me do it
I'm crazy, I'll do it, I'll -
Ow, that really hurt”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I did not blame the poor girl. Truly. But getting her to trust my friendship, to trust anyone after her stepfather, Nero, was like training a wild squirrel to eat out of one's hand. Any loud noise was liable to cause her to flee, or bite, or both.
(I realize that's not a fair comparison. Meg bites much harder than a wild squirrel.)”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I created hyacinths, so I'm supposed to know how to plant and water them?”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Even after four thousand years, I could still learn important life lessons. For instance: never go shopping with a satyr.
Finding the store took forever, because Grover kept getting sidetracked. He stopped to chat with a yucca. He gave directions to a family of ground squirrels. He smelled smoke and led us on a chase across the desert until he found a burning cigarette someone had dropped onto the road.
"This is how fires start," he said, then responsibly disposed of the cigarette butt by eating it.
I didn't see anything within a mile radius that could have caught fire. I was reasonably sure rocks and soil were not flammable, but I never argue with people who eat cigarettes.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Aloe Vera nodded. "We would be honoured to have an Oracle! You could warn me whenever anyone is about to get a cold!?"
"We would welcome you with open arms," Joshua agreed. "Except for those of us with prickly arms. They would probably just wave at you.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Rule of duelling etiquette: when choosing a weapon for single combat, you should absolutely not choose to wield your grandfather.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“You don't do that.
You don't just announce that your dad built a mysterious house on a sacred spot for dryads, then get up and leave without an explanation.
So, of course, that's what Meg did.
"See you in the morning," she announced to no one in particular.
She trudged up the ramp, still barefoot despite traipsing past twenty different species of cactus, and slipped into the dark.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I've never had nightmares about trees. That might change after today. - Grover”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I would defeat the emperors. I would free Delphi from Python’s grasp. I would not allow those who had sacrificed themselves to do so for nothing. Perhaps this quest had ended on a suspended fourth chord. We still had much to do. But from now on, I would be more than Lester. I would be more than an observer. I would be Apollo. I would remember.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“Then he explained how I’d wet my pants and that was why I was wearing hot-pink camo. “Ohhh.” All the dryads nodded, as if this was the real question that had been bothering them.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“I didn’t know if it would help, but if I was going to get ripped apart, at least I wanted to go out playing the Beatles.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze