Too many people in this world think small is the best they can do. Not you, Libby Strout. You weren't born for small! You don't know how to do small! Small is not in you!

Against all the odds, we built a better navy than theirs—from scratch—in two months! We now rule the waves in the Mediterranean Sea—Our Sea! The day will come—it begins today—when Rome will master the world! Alexander will roll in his grave, Atlantis will decay in her decadence, and these demons of Harappa will entertain Hades with their theatrics this very night. But Rome will live on in fame and glory. It starts with our victory today!

It's my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them.

I had good intentions once upon a time. Well, September.

I am the captain of my own crunch.

I have this feeling, like I'm waiting for something. But I have no idea what.