“Why does it have to be so hard? Why can't it be a happily-ever-after ride-into-the-sunset feeling all the time?”

“If I'm dead," he murmured. "Why does it hurt so much?”

“Why do you need to gallop while you fly?""Why do humans have to sway their arms while they walk? I dunno boss, but it just feels right.”

“Hubris means deadly pride, Percy. Thinking you can do things better than anyone else... even the gods.''You feel that way?'She [Annabeth] looked down. 'Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework.''I'm listening.''I mean, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did - that's why the fire is still burning. That's why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: "If I could tear this all down, I would do it better." Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?”

“I stared at the river far below. "Why did you park us on the mountain? Why not closer?"Bast shrugged, as if this hadn't occurred to her. "Cats like to get as high up as possible. In case we have to pounce on something.""Great," I said. "So if we have to pounce, we're all set.”

“So why are we practicing this, anyway?" Percy asked. "Do you guys spend a lot of time laying siege to fortified cities?”

“Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked."It only works on wild animals.""So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned."Hey!" I protested.”