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Little cats who howl too loud get drowned in the canals," warned the fair-haired bravo. "Not if they have claws. -- George R R Martin
This is the bravo's dance, the water dance, swift and sudden. All men are made of water, do you know this? When you pierce them, the water leaks out and they die. -- George R R Martin
When you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him. -- George R R Martin
The Red God takes what is his, lovely girl. And only death may pay for life. You saved me and the two I was with. You stole three deaths from the Red God. We have to give them back. Speak three names and the man will do the rest. Three lives I will give you - no more, no less, and we're done. -- George R R Martin
Only a fool humbles himself when the world is so full of men eager to do that job for him. (Theon Greyjoy) -- George R R Martin
It's not Torrhen's Square I mean to take. - Theon Greyjoy -- George R R Martin
And Robb. Robb who had been more a brother to Theon than any son born of Balon Greyjoy's loins. Murdered at the Red Wedding, butchered by the Freys. I should have been with him. Where was I? I shold have died with him. -- George R R Martin
But Theon Greyjoy found himself wondering why any man would climb the snow-slick steps to the battlements in the black of night just to take a piss. -- George R R Martin
All the color had been leached from Winterfell until only grey and white remained. The Stark colors. Theon did not know whether he ought to find that ominous or reassuring. Even the sky was grey. The eyes of the bride were brown. Big and brown and full of fear. -- George R R Martin
Necklace. The parchment curled, blackened, and took flame. Theon was aghast. "Have you gone mad?" His father laid a stinging backhand across his cheek. "Mind your tongue. You are not in Winterfell now, and I am not Robb the Boy, that you should speak to me so. I am the Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke, -- George R R Martin
It is as if I were a stranger here. Nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed - Theon Greyjoy -- George R R Martin
Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. -- George R R Martin
Thee'th not to be touched, the goat screamed, spraying spittle all over Zollo. Thee hath to be a maid, you foolth! Thee'th worth a bag of thapphireth! -- George R R Martin
Twilight deepened. The cloudless sky turned a deep purple, the color of an old bruise, then faded to black. -- George R R Martin
Sansa cried herself to sleep, Arya brooded silently all day long, and Eddard Stark dreamed of a frozen hell reserved for the Starks of Winterfell. -- George R R Martin
They had found two of his uncle's men in the wood, slain, but the corpses had risen in the chill of night. Jon's burnt fingers twitched as he remembered. He still saw the wight in his dreams, dead Othor with the burning blue eyes and the cold black hands, -- George R R Martin
He'd had a giant's strength too, -- George R R Martin
I left the next morning ... for a place where a kiss was not a crime and a man could wear any cloak he chose.' - Mance Rayder -- George R R Martin
Once a horse is broken to the saddle, any man can mount him", he said in a soft voice.. "Once a beast's been joined to a man, any skinchanger can slip inside of him and ride him. -- George R R Martin
Or do you mean to rule over a realm of seals and otters?"
She gave a rueful laugh. "Otters might be easier to rule than men, I grant you. And seals are smarter. -- George R R Martin
Wolves and women wed for life. -- George R R Martin
It's like these ideas, these characters, kind of bubble up inside me, and one day they're not there, and the next day they are there. They're alive, and they're whispering in my head and all that stuff, and I want to write about those things. -- George R R Martin
I thought that I was the Warrior and Cersei was the Maid, but all the time she was the Stranger, hiding her true face from my gaze. "Pray for me, if you like," he told his cousin. "I forgotten all the words. -- George R R Martin
Any man who steps between a father and his vengeance asks for death. -- George R R Martin
When cowards hide behind great walls, it is they who are defeated, Khaleesi," Ko Jhogo said. Her other bloodriders concurred. "Blood of my blood," said Rakharo, "when cowards hide and burn the food and fodder, great khals must seek for braver foes. This is known. -- George R R Martin
Lord Rodrik Harlaw was neither fat nor slim; neither tall nor short; neither ugly nor handsome. His hair was brown, as were his eyes, though the short, neat beard he favored had gone grey. All in all, he was an ordinary man, distinguished only by his love of written words. -- George R R Martin
Some would fight for any cause, some for none at all. -- George R R Martin
his snores sounded like ducks mating. -- George R R Martin
Black Pearl was the most famous courtesan of all. "She's descended from the dragons, that one," the woman had told Cat. "The first Black Pearl was a pirate queen. -- George R R Martin
Glory may be everlasting, yet it is fleeting as well - soon forgotten in the aftermath of even the most famous of victories if they lead to greater disasters. -- George R R Martin
Nothing but this: I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had ... I wish I had enough poison for you all. You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. -- George R R Martin
I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had.' He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. 'I wish I had enough poison for you all. You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. I am innocent, but I will get no justice here. -- George R R Martin
I watch NFL football on Sundays. I enjoy gaming with friends, meaning role-playing games; I still enjoy going to conventions and traveling. -- George R R Martin
Lonely? Yes. But a solemn, brooding, tragic loneliness that a man hates with a passion - and yet loves so much he craves for more. -- George R R Martin
One blast?" On his shoulder, his raven sat fluffed and silent, looking miserable. "One, my lord," Jon agreed. "Brothers returning." Mormont -- George R R Martin
I wait with sullen resignation, said Tuf, unmoving. -- George R R Martin
Everyone who isn't us is an enemy." - Cersei -- George R R Martin
The little shards of sleep that they allowed her turned into razors, slicing at her wits. -- George R R Martin
Egg has the truth of it. Aerion's quite the monster. He thinks he's a dragon in human form, you know. That's why he was so wroth at that puppet show. A pity he wasn't born a Fossoway, then he'd think himself an apple and we'd all be a deal safer, but there you are. -- George R R Martin
This was not chivalrously done," said Brienne when they were close enough to see it clearly. "No true knight would condone such wanton butchery. -- George R R Martin
His lips look like two worms fucking. -- George R R Martin
Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large enough for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. -- George R R Martin
Aemon's blind white eyes came open. "Egg?" he said, as the rain streamed down his cheeks. "Egg, I dreamed that I was old. -- George R R Martin
Even a priest may doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aeron Damphair reached within himself for his god and discovered only silence. -- George R R Martin
Why ask for truth," Ser Barristan said softly, "if you close your ears to it? -- George R R Martin
In my dreams, I kill him every night,' Robert admitted. 'A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves'. -- George R R Martin
Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side? -- George R R Martin
Some things are best left unsaid, sweetling."
"Even when we are alone?"
"*Especially* when we are alone. -- George R R Martin
In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya. -- George R R Martin
His mouth would have given despair to even the drollest of fools; it was a mouth made for frowns and scowls and sharply worded commands, all thin pale lips and clenched muscles, a mouth that had forgotten how to smile and had never known how to laugh -- George R R Martin
His cloak was Lannister crimson, but his surcoat showed the ten purple mullets of his own House arrayed upon a yellow field. -- George R R Martin
Arya did not know any Many-Faced God, but if he answered prayers, he might be the god she sought. -- George R R Martin
There's part of me that loves words. But sometimes it feels like you're trying to drive nails with your shoe. -- George R R Martin
If the fire was too hot, you could hardly keep the pudding from scorching by tossing a handful of raisins in the pot. -- George R R Martin
She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. -- George R R Martin
Tell Khan Drogo that he has given me the wind. -- George R R Martin
There was very little that Jaime took seriously. Tyrion knew that about his brother, and forgave it. During all the terrible long years of his childhood, only Jaime had ever shown him the smallest measure of affection or respect, and for that Tyrion was willing to forgive him most anything. -- George R R Martin
Friend or foe, the crows care not. -- George R R Martin
Lady Stark was there beside his bed. She had been there, day and night, for close on a fortnight. Not for a moment had she left Bran's side. She had her meals brought to her there, and chamber pots as well, and a small hard bed to sleep on, though it was said she had scarcely slept at all. -- George R R Martin
I am a knight - " "So I've noted. Tell me - did Cersei have you knighted before or after she took you into her bed?" The flicker in Lancel's green eyes was all the admission Tyrion needed. So Varys told it true. Well, no one can ever claim that my sister does not love her family. -- George R R Martin
Men come and go. They lie, or die, or leave you. A mountain is not a man, though, and a stone is a mountain's daughter. I trust myself, and I trust my mules. I won't fall. -- George R R Martin
Show me the path I must walk and do not let me stumble in the dark places that lie ahead. -- George R R Martin
Joffrey is in my prayers as well," said Margaery. "I loved him dearly, though I never had the chance to know him." Liar, the queen thought. If you had loved him even for an instant, you would not have been in such unseemly haste to wed his brother. His crown was all you ever wanted. For -- George R R Martin
You'll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers. -- George R R Martin
You Starks are hard to kill," Jon agreed. -- George R R Martin
Sleep is good, he said, and books are better. -- George R R Martin
I accept what I am, but I did not choose it. I experience human life in the only way I can, vicariously. I am a voracious consumer of books, tapes, holoplays, fictions and drama and histories of all sorts. I have experimented with dreamdust. -- George R R Martin
Some men had faces that cried out for a beard. Ser Clayton's face cried out for an axe between the eyes. -- George R R Martin
When you play the games of thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground. -- George R R Martin
oh, don't look so aggrieved. I have never met a man I didn't provoke" ~ Asha Greyjoy (from a Feast For Crows) -- George R R Martin
A man might befriend a wolf, even break a wolf, but no man could truly tame a wolf. -- George R R Martin
Death is not the worst thing. It is His gift to us, and end to want and pain. On the day that we are born the Many-Faced God sends each of us a dark angel to walk through life beside us. When our sins and our sufferings grow to great to be borne, the angel takes us. -- George R R Martin
What are gods for if not to sit in judgment over men? The Many-Faced God does not weigh men's souls, however. He gives his gift to the best of men as he gives it to the worst. Elsewise the good would live forever. -- George R R Martin
She could feel the hole inside her where her heart had been. -- George R R Martin
You never knew Lyanna as well as I did Robert, you saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath -- George R R Martin
And he spoke very slowly, in a voice that was also like fog, that drifted and curled and hid things, and you knew that there were mysteries there and things brooding just out of sight and far-off lights that you would never reach. -- George R R Martin
The sound of their voices mingled with the whicker of horses, the clank of steel, and the groaning hinges of the great bronze gates to make a strange and fearful music. In the sept they sing for the Mother's mercy but on the walls it's the Warrior they pray to, and all in silence. -- George R R Martin
The dwarf has played her like a set of pipes, and she is too deaf to hear the tune. -- George R R Martin
If I faint, pull me out. No Lannister has ever drowned in his bath and I don't mean to be the first." "Why should I care how you die?" "You swore a solemn vow. -- George R R Martin
Many a voyager has been lost here, poleboats and pirates and great river galleys too. They wander forlorn through the mists, searching for a sun they cannot find until madness or hunger claim their lives. There are restless spirits in the air here and tormented souls below the water. -- George R R Martin
The odd thing about being a writer is you do tend to lose yourself in your books. Sometimes it seems like real life is flickering by and you're hardly a part of it. You remember the events in your books better than you remember the events that actually took place when you were writing them. -- George R R Martin
If you're going to write about war, which my books are about, wars are nasty things. I think it's sort of a cheap, easy way out to write a war story in which no one ultimately dies. -- George R R Martin
Ser Alliser Thorne was the only man at table who did not so much as crack a smile. "Lannister mocks us." "Only you, Ser Alliser," Tyrion said. This time the laughter round the table had a nervous, uncertain quality to it. -- George R R Martin
It's a fool boy who mocks a giant, and a mad world when a cripple has to defend him. -- George R R Martin
She could not bear to look at him just now. If she did, she might well slap him again. Or cry. Or kiss him. And never know which was right and which was wrong and which was madness. -- George R R Martin
When you're done drinking you'll tickle the innkeep to see where he keeps his gold. The way you always do. -- George R R Martin
I know that sounds too earnest, but it's true. I mean, I would rather be a librarian, but I worry about the job security. Books may be temporary; dicks are forever. -- George R R Martin
Yes, she said, and from that moment she was a novice in the House of Black and White. -- George R R Martin
She was Daenerys Stormborn, the Unburnt, Khaleesi and queen, Mother of Dragons, slayer of warlocks, breaker of chains, and there was no one in the world that she could trust. -- George R R Martin
Men are men ... Dragons are dragons. -- George R R Martin
Do you think I do not know that? Oberyn is with me every time I close my eyes. Doran Martell -- George R R Martin
I see you had no taste for the wine I sent you."
"Such sudden generosity seemed somewhat suspect."
"I can have your head off anytime I want. Why should I need to poison you?"
"Death by poison can seem natural. Harder to claim that my head simply fell off. -- George R R Martin
I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My -- George R R Martin
The waves may break upon the mountain, yet still they come, wave upon wave, and in the end only pebbles remain where once the mountain stood. And soon even the pebbles are swept away, to be ground beneath the sea for all eternity. -- George R R Martin
What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms ... or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy. -- George R R Martin
Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him. -- George R R Martin
There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La. -- George R R Martin
Balon is dead! The king is dead! Yet a king will come again! For what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger! A king will rise! -- George R R Martin
M'lord," Janos Slynt reminded him. "You'll address me-"
"I'll go, my lord. But you are making a mistake, my lord. You are sending the wrong man, my lord. Just the sight of me is going to anger Mance ... -- George R R Martin
This world is twisted beyond hope, when lowborn smugglers must vouch for the honor of kings. -- George R R Martin
Gold," said Jaime. "You do like gold?" Urswyck studied him through reddened eyes. "It has its uses, I do confess. -- George R R Martin
A brigand, a barber, a beggar, two orphans, and a boy whore. With such do we defend the realms of men. -- George R R Martin
We're all the heroes of our own stories. So, when I am inside the head of a character who would otherwise be considered a villain, I have a great deal of affection for that character and I'm trying to see the world and the events through their eyes. -- George R R Martin
The living have no place at the feasts of the dead. -- George R R Martin
If I do not go, I will spend the rest of my life wondering what might have happened if I had. -- George R R Martin
A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things. -- George R R Martin
I am Thunder and Thunder is me, we are one beast, we are joined, we are one. -- George R R Martin
Ned was clad in a white linen doublet with the direwolf of Stark on the breast; his black wool cloak was fastened at the collar by his silver hand of office. Black and white and grey, all the shades of truth. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes they are heroes. Sometimes they are villains. More often they are something in between, grey characters ... and grey has long been my favorite color. It is so much more interesting than black or white. -- George R R Martin
I prefer to work with grey characters rather than black and white. -- George R R Martin
Black Wind was Asha's longship. He had not seen his sister in ten years, but that much he knew of her. Odd that she would call it that, when Robb Stark had a wolf named Grey Wind. "Stark is grey and Greyjoy's black," he murmured, smiling, "but it seems we're both windy. -- George R R Martin
Love can make a fool of any man. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion Lannister was bundled in furs so thickly he looked like a very small bear -- George R R Martin
I've been many kinds of writers in my career: novelist; tele-playwright; short story writer. As a high-school student, I wrote amateur pieces for fanzines, and I've written for Hollywood. -- George R R Martin
A crisp roast chicken would set the world aright. -- George R R Martin
The man had a hand down between her legs, and he must have been hurting her there, because the woman started to moan, low in her throat. -- George R R Martin
Bran knew that men slept on top of women when they shared a bed. Sleeping under Lord Manderly would be like sleeping under a fallen horse, he imagined. -- George R R Martin
Hodor?"
"Hodor. -- George R R Martin
If only they were truly ants, wee could step on them and crush them. -- George R R Martin
Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride? -- George R R Martin
Even a hedge knight has his honor. -- George R R Martin
The king is my son!" Cersei rose to her feet. "Aye," her uncle said, "and from what I saw of Joffrey, you are as unfit a mother as you are a ruler. -- George R R Martin
When nine-and-ninety hostages had shuffled by them to pass beneath the Wall, Tormund Giantsbane produced the last one. My son Dryn. You'll see he's well taken care of, crow, or I'll cook your black liver up and eat it. -- George R R Martin
She was no stranger to waiting, after all. Her man had always made her wait. -- George R R Martin
His hand shone dully in its light. No good for throttling eunuchs, but heavy enough to smash that slimy smile into a fine red ruin. -- George R R Martin
I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne, or so dead as now that I've won it. And -- George R R Martin
Lady, I have never been a hero, no Ryam Redwyne or Barristan the Bold. I've won no tourneys, no renown in war ... but I was a knight once, and you have helped me remember what that meant. My life is a poor thing, but it is yours. -- George R R Martin
They have been with you every day, my lord. Sansa prays quietly, but Arya ... " He hesitated. "She has not said a word since they brought you back. She is a fierce little thing, my lord. I have never seen such anger in a girl. -- George R R Martin
Aye," she said, "and hands strong enough to twist a man's head off his shoulders, if he takes a mind to. -- George R R Martin
Opening your eyes is all that is needing. The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true. Look with your eyes. Hear with your ears. Taste with your mouth. Smell with your nose. Feel with your skin. Then comes the thinking, afterward, and in that way knowing the truth. -- George R R Martin
All sins may be forgiven, but crimes must still be punished. -- George R R Martin
Sins may be forgiven. Crimes require punishment. -- George R R Martin
Don't call me Lord Snow."
The dwarf lifted an eyebrow. "Would you rather be called the Imp? Let them see that their words can cut you and you'll never be free of the mockery. If they want to give you a name take it make it your own. Then they can't hurt you with it anymore. -- George R R Martin
You were wrong to love her, a voice whispered. You were wrong to leave her, a different voice insisted. -- George R R Martin
We are only human, and the Gods have fashioned us for love. This is our greatest glory and our greatest tragedy. -- George R R Martin
An old woman selling piglets from a basket stopped to stare at him, a knight with a half-familiar face went to one knee, and two men-at-arms pissing in a ditch turned and sprayed each other. -- George R R Martin
Tell Robb that I'm going to command the Night's Watch and keep him safe, so he might as well take up needlework with the girls and have Mikken melt down his sword for horseshoes.
- Jon Snow -- George R R Martin
Terror filled her. She could not go back and she was afraid to stay here, but how could she go on? - Dany -- George R R Martin
I tend to write one character at a time. But I don't write the entirety of one character at a time. -- George R R Martin
The mystery knight prevails against all challengers, and wonder dances in his wake. -- George R R Martin
If one head was enough to appease a prince of Dorne, a bag of them should be more than adequate for a fat northman wrapped in sealskins. -- George R R Martin
Beware," the woman in the red lacquer mask said. "Of whom?" "Of all. They shall come day and night to see the wonder that has been born again into the world, and when they see they shall lust. For dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power. -- George R R Martin
Must you be in such haste to don your clothes, ser? I prefer you as you are. Abed, unclad, we are our truest selves, a man and a woman, lovers, one flesh, as close as two can be. Our clothes make us different people. - Arianne -- George R R Martin
I bet this is a brothel," she whispered to Gendry.
"You don't even know what a brothel is."
"I do so," she insisted. "It's like an inn, with girls. -- George R R Martin
Jaime smiled. "I hope you're not thinking of taking the black on us, sweet brother."
Tyrion laughed. "What, me, celibate? The whores would go begging from Dorne to Casterly Rock. No, I just want to stand on top of the Wall and piss off the edge of the world. -- George R R Martin
No matter where he went in this wide world, his fears went with him. -- George R R Martin
Tarly, when I was a lad half your age, my lady mother told me that if I stood about with my mouth open, a weasel was like to mistake it for his lair and run down my throat. If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, beware of weasels. -- George R R Martin
He was a Lannister of Casterly Rock, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; no sellsword would make him scream.
Sunlight ran silver along the edge of the arakh as it came shivering down, almost too fast to see. And Jaime screamed. -- George R R Martin
Thoros," Gendry said as they walked past the kennels, "is he the -- George R R Martin
It's very hard to find a good child actor. There are a lot of child actors out there, especially in America, and they're cute kids, but most child actors appear on sitcoms where their main role is to be cute and make funny little remarks. -- George R R Martin
Rage twisted his features. He would hurt her now, and badly, she knew that. Crack. The whip made a sound like thunder. The coil took Viserys around the throat and yanked him backward. He went sprawling in the grass, stunned and choking. -- George R R Martin
Sour Billy had left his horse tied up outside a grog shop. He mounted it, and told the girl to walk along beside him. They -- George R R Martin
A Stone Crow's axe is always sharp, and Shagga's axes are sharpest of all. Once I cut off a man's head, but he did not know it until he tried to brush his hair. Then it fell off." "Is that why you never brush yours?" The Stone Crows roared and stamped their feet, Shagga hooting loudest of all. -- George R R Martin
He wished he could relieve himself of his doubts and guilts half as easily. -- George R R Martin
You are the winged wolf, but you will never fly ... unless you open your eye. - Jojen -- George R R Martin
Ser Gregor, it went, Dunsen, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei. She ended it with valar morghulis, -- George R R Martin
As angry as he was, his father could not help but laugh. 'You're not my son,' he told Bran when they fetched him down, 'you're a squirrel. So be it. If you must climb, then climb, but try not to let your mother see you. -- George R R Martin
Whenever I switch from one character to another, there's always a few days where I really struggle because I'm changing voices and I'm changing ways of looking at the world. I'm not just flicking a switch; it's harder process than that. -- George R R Martin
The wide world is full of people wanting help, Jon. Would that some could find the courage to help themselves.
- Lord Commander Mormont -- George R R Martin
He's not afraid of anyone, m'lord."
"He should be. Fear is what keeps a man alive in this world of treachery and deceit. -- George R R Martin
Some we call players and some we call prizes, but when the pain comes and the game of mind begins, we are all the same, all naked and alone without riches or health or status, armed with only the strength that lies within us. Win or lose, live or die, it is up to us and us alone. -- George R R Martin
There has to be a level of joy of what you're doing. -- George R R Martin
I have done a lot of work in Hollywood myself. I worked in television for roughly 10 years, from the mid-'80s to mid-'90s. And I was on staff at a couple of shows. I did some feature films, including originals and adaptations. -- George R R Martin
Even now, it was hard for her to believe that he was truly gone. Some nights she would wake in darkness, half-asleep, and for an instant expect to find him there beside her. -- George R R Martin
I'd sooner drink a pint of piss than take the word of any Frey. -- George R R Martin
The only wolves we got to fear are the ones wear manskin, -- George R R Martin
A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man's life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose. (Maester Aemon) -- George R R Martin
The storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling. (Varys) -- George R R Martin
Up in the hills we say that autumn kisses you, but winter fucks you hard. -- George R R Martin
If you dance with dragons, you must expect to burn. -- George R R Martin
It's being ready to accept rejection. You can work on a book for two years and get it published, and it's like you may as well have thrown it down a well. It's not all champagne and doing interviews with The New York Times. -- George R R Martin
Wash out her private parts with lye and throw her in a dungeon, Tarly commanded. -- George R R Martin
Lords are gold and knights steel, but two links can't make a chain. You also need silver and iron and lead, tin and copper and bronze and all the rest, and those are farmers and smiths and merchants and the like. A chain needs all sorts of metals, and a land needs all sorts of people. -- George R R Martin
If you would wed, wed. If not, take your pleasure where you find it. There's little enough of it in this world. - Oberyn -- George R R Martin
Ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.
Tyrion smiled. Lord Varys, I am growing strangely fond of you. I may kill you yet, but I think I'd feel sad about it.
I will take that as high praise. -- George R R Martin
None taken, Ser Jaremy. My father is very fond of spiked heads, especially those of people who have annoyed him in some fashion. And a face as noble as yours, well, no doubt he saw you decorating the city wall above King's Gate. I think you would have looked very striking up there. -- George R R Martin
[Melisandre] "His Grace is growing fond of you."
[Jon] "I can tell. He only threatened to behead me twice."
Page 58 -- George R R Martin
Sometimes the storm winds blow so strong a man has no choice but to furl his sails. -- George R R Martin
I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. -- George R R Martin
A bite." She touched the hilt of her sword, the sword that he had given her. Oathkeeper. "My lord, you gave me a quest. -- George R R Martin
He pushed away from her and raised his arm, forcing his stump into her face. A Hand without a hand? A bad jape, sister. Don't ask me to rule. -- George R R Martin
For herself, she wanted sleet and ice, howling winds, thunder to shake the very stones of the Red Keep. She wanted a storm to match her rage. -- George R R Martin
I want to weep, she thought. I want to be comforted. I'm so tired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, that's all ... a day ... an hour. -- George R R Martin
Coins from half a hundred distant cities, silver and gold, copper and bronze, square coins and round coins, triangles and rings and bits of bone -- George R R Martin
He should never have let himself be drawn into this, but the singer said that love can make a fool of any man. -- George R R Martin
Beneath your skin are muscles. Learn to use them. It is your face. Your cheeks, your lips, your ears. Smiles and scowls should not come upon you like sudden squalls. A smile should be a servant, and come only when you call it. Learn to rule your face. -- George R R Martin
Shall I ask again?" wondered Xaro. "No, I know that smile. It is a cruel queen who dices with men's hearts. Humble merchants like myself are no more than stones beneath your jeweled sandals." A single tear ran slowly down his pale white cheek. -- George R R Martin
Racing down the kingsroad, as if to outrun his doubts. -- George R R Martin
Dragons old and young, true and false, bright and dark. And you. A small man with a big shadow, snarling in the midst of all. -- George R R Martin
Ser Gregor the Mountain," she said softly. "Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei." It made her feel queer to leave out Polliver and the Tickler. And Joffrey too. -- George R R Martin
A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there, and a king dies. -- George R R Martin
My mother raised me to be bold. If I do not go, I will spend the rest of my life wondering what might have happened if I had."
"If you do go, the rest of your life may be too short for wondering. - Asha & Rodrick -- George R R Martin
Be strong, boy. The gods are cruel. -- George R R Martin
Oak and iron, guard me well, or else I'm dead, and doomed to hell. -- George R R Martin
Did you ever wonder why Spot runs so much? He's running away from Dick and Jane and Sally, the dullest family in the world. -- George R R Martin
I'm done now, then. I've already kicked one prince in the mouth, I don't mean to keep another waiting. -- George R R Martin
My characters who come back from death are worse for wear. In some ways, they're not even the same characters anymore. The body may be moving, but some aspect of the spirit is changed or transformed, and they've lost something. -- George R R Martin
His passion was a tragedy for all of us, but it was real, and pure, and nothing to be made mock of. -- George R R Martin
Yes, all Lannisters are lions, and when a Tyrell breaks wind it smells just like a rose. -- George R R Martin
If I pray nicely, will the Father give me a new hand?
No. But the Warrior will give you courage, the Smith will lend you strength, and the Crone will give you wisdom.
It's a hand I need. -- George R R Martin
The morning air was dark with the smoke of burning gods. -- George R R Martin
I do play all the characters, when I write them, one after another. If they actually had to film me, the only one I could play would be Samwell Tarly or Hot Pie. -- George R R Martin
How time seemed to blur and slow and even stop, how the past and the future vanished until there was nothing but the instant, how fear fled, and thought fled, and even your body. -- George R R Martin
I'm not a lady, Arya wanted to tell her, I'm a wolf. -- George R R Martin
The apples stewed with prunes are excellent, except for the prunes, I won't eat prunes myself. Well, there was one time when Hobb chopped them up with chesnuts and carrots and hid them in a hen. Never trust a cook, my lord. They'll prune you when you least expect it. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, and men will lie to get their way, as any maid could tell you. -- George R R Martin
I'm short not blind -- George R R Martin
He never wanted love, though. You cannot eat love, nor buy a horse with it, nor warm your halls on a cold night. -- George R R Martin
Now I understand why King Stannis let the wildlings through the Wall. He means for us to eat them. -- George R R Martin
Power resides only where men believe it resides. [ ... ] A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow. -- George R R Martin
Some men think because they're afraid to do. -- George R R Martin
R'hllor, come to us in our darkness, -- George R R Martin
R'hllor, come to us in our darkness,' she called. 'Lord of Light, we offer you these false gods, these seven who are one, and him the enemy. Take them and cast your light upon us, for the night is dark and full of terrors. -- George R R Martin
There was part of me that wanted to see the world and travel to distant places, but I could only do it in my imagination, so I read ferociously and imagined things. -- George R R Martin
The wildlings seemed to think Ygritte a great beauty because of her hair; red hair was rare among the free folk, and those who had it were said to be kissed by fire, which was supposed to be lucky. -- George R R Martin
Of course you know him. Everyone knows a pear-shaped man. -- George R R Martin
There are worse ways to die than warm and drunk. -- George R R Martin
Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted her his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again. -- George R R Martin
The common people pray for rain, healthy children and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. -- George R R Martin
Give me sweet lies, and keep your bitter truths. -- George R R Martin
Remind me to tell the High Septon," said Tyrion. "If I could pray with my cock, I'd be much more religious." He -- George R R Martin
Why is that so hard? They will not love me, you say? When have they ever loved me? How can I lose something I have never owned? He -- George R R Martin
They will not love me, you say? When have they ever loved me? How can I lose something I have never owned? - Stannis -- George R R Martin
Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night. -- George R R Martin
You should think less about the future and more about the pleasures at hand. -- George R R Martin
Even dreams cannot live up here. -- George R R Martin
Have you noticed that the rain stopped the instant I had a roof above me? It will start again now that I'm back out. Gods and dogs alike delight to piss on me. - Dolorous Edd -- George R R Martin
It is better to be seen as cruel than foolish. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion Lannister could not have been more astonished if Aegon the Conqueror himself had burst into the room, riding on a dragon and juggling lemon pies. -- George R R Martin
Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. -- George R R Martin
Bronn said. He was near a shadow himself; bone thin and bone hard, with black eyes and black hair and a stubble of beard. -- George R R Martin
If the lamb sees the knife, she panics. Her panic seeps into her meat, darkens it, fouls the flavor. -- George R R Martin
I've never been good with deadlines. My early novels, I wrote by myself. No one knew I was writing a novel; I didn't have a contract. -- George R R Martin
The true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves. -- George R R Martin
Come at once. Help me. Save me. I need you as I have never needed you before. I love you, I love you, I love you. Come at once-Cersei Lannister -- George R R Martin
I never liked Gandalf the White as much as Gandalf the Grey, and I never liked him coming back. I think it would have been an even stronger story if Tolkien had left him dead. -- George R R Martin
The Night's Watch is thousands of years old," he said, "but I'll wager Lord Snow's the first brother ever honored for burning down the Lord Commander's Tower. -- George R R Martin
A man must have some name, is that not so? Biter cannot speak and Biter cannot write, yet his teeth are very sharp, so a man calls him Biter and he smiles. Are you charmed?" Arya -- George R R Martin
It is only an island of light surrounded by a vastly greater area of greyness and that fades ultimately into the black of ignorance. -- George R R Martin
I must show no fear, no weakness, no doubt. -- George R R Martin
This is a time for beasts, Jaime reflected, for lions and wolves and angry dogs, for ravens and carrion crows. -- George R R Martin
He did not know which was more painful, the waking or the sleeping. When he slept, he dreamed: dark disturbing dreams of blood and broken promises. When he woke, there was nothing to do but think, and his waking thoughts were worse than nightmares. -- George R R Martin
Once or twice he pinched his arm with his fingers, really hard, but the only thing that did was make his arm hurt. -- George R R Martin
We do not choose our destinies. -- George R R Martin
A small victory, he thought, but sweet. -- George R R Martin
The skin was warm, blue veins branching like rivers beneath his pale translucent skin. Outside the greater rivers flowed, the Red Fork and the Tumblestone, and they would flow forever, but not so the rivers in her father's hand. Too soon that current would grow still. -- George R R Martin
My trees, they said, you can't eat them apples. My stream, you can't fish here. My wood, you're not t' hunt. My earth, my water, my castle, my daughter, keep your hands away or I'll chop 'em off, but maybe if you kneel t' me I'll let you have a sniff. -- George R R Martin
All fiction has to have a certain amount of truth in it to be powerful. -- George R R Martin
The world's nothing but a mean bully, that's a fact. Even when you've big misfortunes threatening to drop on your head, small ones still take every chance to prick your toes. -- George R R Martin
Cunt again? It was odd how men like Suggs used that word to demean women when it was the only part of a woman they valued. -- George R R Martin
The stone is strong. Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I'm not dead either. -- George R R Martin
A king who does not protect his people is no king at all. -- George R R Martin
Power is a trick. It lies where we believe it lies. -- George R R Martin
Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. So if you must hate, Arya, hate those who would truly do us harm. -- George R R Martin
Noooo," Cersei wailed, "Father help him, someone help him, my son, my son ... '
Tyrian found himself thinking of Robb Stark. My own wedding is looking much better in hindsight. -- George R R Martin
He will not be three forever. And winter is coming. -- George R R Martin
Ideas are cheap. I have more ideas now than I could ever write up. To my mind, it's the execution that is all-important. -- George R R Martin
No one looked at him. No one spoke to him. No one paid him any mind. He was surrounded by men sworn to House Lannister, a vast host twenty thousand strong, and yet he was alone. -- George R R Martin
Eddard Stark not in the least. Is there a reason for this -- George R R Martin
This is so," Illyrio agreed, "but the world is one great web, and a man dare not touch a single strand lest all the others tremble. More wine? -- George R R Martin
We tremble on the cusp of half-remembered prophecies, of wonders and terrors that no man now living could hope to comprehend -- George R R Martin
the world is one great web, and a man dare not touch a single strand lest all the others tremble. -- George R R Martin
Sooner would be better than later, and now would be better than sooner. - Tyrion -- George R R Martin
You are an honest and honorable man ... Ofttimes I forget that. I have met so few of them in my life. -- George R R Martin
This will be my grand adventure." "Men die on grand adventures. -- George R R Martin
Many called her beautiful. She was not beautiful. She was red, and terrible, and red. -- George R R Martin
Seventeen, and beautiful, and already a legend. Half the girls in the Seven Kingdom want to bed him, and all the boys want to be him. -- George R R Martin
Control your generosity when dealing with a chronic borrower. -- George R R Martin
It was almost enough to put a man off whoring. -- George R R Martin
And tell Ser Donnel to add a weathervane to his shield. -- George R R Martin
If ... if certain things should come to pass, I will send word to each of you. Things can change quickly in the game of thrones. -- George R R Martin
Pissing is the least of my talents. You ought to see me shit -- George R R Martin
When a wolf descends upon your flocks, all you gain by killing him is a short respite, for other wolves will come, -- George R R Martin
Promise me, Ned, she had whispered. -- George R R Martin
No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair! -- George R R Martin
The outriders came on them an hour from the Green Fork, as the wayn was slogging down a muddy road. -- George R R Martin
His cloak was his crowning glory; sable, thick and black and soft as sin. -- George R R Martin
Things can change quickly in the game of thrones. Words are wind, and the wind is always blowing at the Wall. -- George R R Martin
This is not Winterfell', he told him as he cut his meat with fork and dagger. 'On the Wall, a man gets only what he earns. You're no ranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you. -- George R R Martin
As hard as birth can be, Brienne, what comes after is even harder. At times I feel as though I am being torn apart. Would that there were five of me, one for each child, so I might keep them all safe. - Lady Catelyn -- George R R Martin
Ser Jaime?" Even in soiled pink satin and torn lace, Brienne looked more like a man in a gown than a proper woman."I am grateful, but ... you were well away. Why come back?"
A dozen quips came to mind, each crueler than the one before, but Jaime only shrugged. "I dreamed of you," he said. -- George R R Martin
You said the words," Pyp reminded him. "Now my watch begins, you said it. It shall not end until my death." "I shall live and die at my post," Grenn added, nodding. -- George R R Martin
You Westerosi are all the same. You sew some beast upon a scrap of silk, and suddenly you are all lions, or dragons, or eagles. -- George R R Martin
No one will be alive by the last book. In fact, they all die in the fifth. The sixth book will be just a thousand-page description of snow blowing across the graves ... -- George R R Martin
There is entirely too much tut-tutting in this realm, if you ask me. All these kings would do a deal better if they put down their swords and listened to their mothers. -- George R R Martin
They are boys drunk on song and story, and like all boys, they think themselves immortal. -- George R R Martin
We look at mountains and call them eternal, and they seem ... but in the course of time, mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, starts fall from the sky, and great cities sink beneath the sea. Even gods die, we think. Everything changes. -- George R R Martin
Fingers. They had served them to Littlefinger, -- George R R Martin
Her name was Tolly Mune, but in the stories they call her all sorts of things. -- George R R Martin
There are too many steps in this castle, and it seems to me they add a few every night, just to vex me
- Maester Cressen -- George R R Martin
Gain or loss. Living and dying. I have told you, Cyrain, they cannot be separated. -- George R R Martin
I never finished any of my early stories. They were all beginnings, an endless number of beginnings. -- George R R Martin
Jay wondered how they'd feel the morning they all woke up and realized that somehow Camelot had turned into Mordor. -- George R R Martin
Place or that place. The rest of the time, they ate in his solar, -- George R R Martin
Some were bound to me by vows and some by blood, but they were all my brothers. -- George R R Martin
What ... what game?" "The only game. The game of thrones. -- George R R Martin
No one gets to abuse the people of Westeros but me! -- George R R Martin
Mantlets. "Here come our breakfast arrows," Pyp announced -- George R R Martin
People are going to die who don't die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy. So everybody better be on their toes. David and D.B. (David Benioff and D.B. Weiss co-creators of 'Game Of Thrones) are even bloodier than I am. -- George R R Martin
We shall have no king but from the kingmoot. -- George R R Martin
My mother taught me long ago that only madmen fight wars they cannot win. -- George R R Martin
The biggest toms would seldom win, she noticed; oft as not, the prize went to some smaller, quicker animal, thin and mean and hungry. -- George R R Martin
If this was power, why did it taste like tedium? -- George R R Martin
Shit and piss and trash were thrown from windows to the distant street until rain came to wash them away, and like plants in rich soil, the unstable, unreliable buildings rose, driven by the deep human desire to be the one least shat upon. -- George R R Martin
The day will come when you need them to respect you, even fear you a little. Laughter is poison to fear. -- George R R Martin
Honor," she said. "The point is honor. -- George R R Martin
You'll find truth in your looking glass, not on the tongues of men. -- George R R Martin
When I was a boy," Tyrion replied, "my wet nurse told me that one day, if men were good, the gods would give the world a summer without ending. Perhaps we've been better than we thought, and the Great Summer is finally at hand." He grinned. The -- George R R Martin
Catelyn had not eaten today. Perhaps that had been unwise. She told herself that there had been no time, but the truth was that food had lost its savor in a world without Ned. 'When they took his head off, they killed me too. -- George R R Martin
The light was so dim that Jaime could scarcely see her, though they stood a scant few feet apart. 'In this light she could almost be a beauty', he thought. 'In this light she could almost be a knight'. -- George R R Martin
A sword so fine must bear a name. It would please me if you would call this one Oathkeeper. -- George R R Martin
Cersei always resented being excluded from power on account of her sex. -- George R R Martin
A man can make do with seven fingers. Seven is a sacred number. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes he thinks of me as a child he must protect, and sometimes as a woman he would like to bed, but does he ever truly see me as his queen? -- George R R Martin
I think my very earliest stories were all intellectual exercises and I was writing from experiences I had never had about characters who were about an inch deep. -- George R R Martin
I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off. -- George R R Martin
That was when the dwarf turned to the eunuch and said, "I've killed my father," in the same tone a man might use to say, "I've stubbed my toe. -- George R R Martin
Cersei will send men after you, I have no doubt. You might do well to take another name." "Another name? Oh, certainly. And when the Faceless Men come to kill me, I'll say, 'No, you have the wrong man, I'm a different dwarf with a hideous facial scar. -- George R R Martin
Unless you relish the notion of having a one-armed dwarf for a son ... -- George R R Martin
No, thought the dwarf, he plays the game of thrones, and you and Griff and Duck are only pieces, to be moved where he will and sacrificed at need, just as he sacrificed Viserys. -- George R R Martin
One naked girl with a mud up to her knees could not seem to take her eyes off Tyrion. She has never seen a dwarf before, he realized, much less a dwarf without a nose. He made a face and stuck his tongue out and the girl began to cry -- George R R Martin
The dwarf has risen from the dead, Tyrion thought. And look, he's uglier than ever, run tell your friends. -- George R R Martin
Jon:'What are you doing up there? Why aren't you at the feast?'
Tyrion: 'Too hot, too noisy, and I'd drunk too much wine', the dwarf told him. 'I learned long ago that it is considered rude to vomit on your brother. -- George R R Martin
Then I am not a dwarf. My father will rejoice to hear it. -- George R R Martin
A toad grows wings and thinks he's a bloody dragon. -- George R R Martin
I can't," I said. "I've got to study." "We've all got to study," Zara said. "But it's Christmas. The Drome will be all decorated and everybody will be there." "Exactly, which means the light rail will be packed and security will take forever. -- George R R Martin
I was a novelist first. But in the mid-'80s, I did work in television for ten years. And yes, that was frequently the reaction to my scripts. People would say, 'You know, George, this is great. We love it, a terrific script, but it would cost five times our budget to shoot this.' -- George R R Martin
Robb: Uncle Benjen said to send you to the stables if I saw you.
Jon: I have one more farewell to make.
Robb: Then I haven't seen you. -- George R R Martin
Ser Gerold Hightower had begun his history, and Ser Barristan Selmy had continued it, but the rest Jaime Lannister would need to write for himself. He could write whatever he chose, henceforth.
Whatever he chose ... -- George R R Martin
Heed the wisdom of those who love you best. -- George R R Martin
When you accept a lord's meat and mead, all you do reflects on him. Always do more than he expects of you, never less. Never flinch at any task or hardship. And above all, never shame the lord you serve. -- George R R Martin
Still, I take your point. I have a deal to learn about being a dwarf. Perhaps you will be good enough to teach me, in between the jousting and the pig-riding. -- George R R Martin
I do get invitations all of the time to play actual fantasy football, by the way, but I get the feeling that I'd like it too much. I have enough demands on my time. My fans would kill me. -- George R R Martin
As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted," Tyrion began, "there is a serious flaw in Littlefinger's fable. Whatever you may believe of me, Lady Stark, I promise you this - I never bet against my family. -- George R R Martin
An admiral without ships, a hand without fingers, in service of a king without a throne. Is this a knight who comes before us, or the answer to a child's riddle? -- George R R Martin
He who kneels may rise again, blade in hand. He who will not kneel stays dead, stiff legs and all. -- George R R Martin
Treason is a noxious weed," Pycelle declared solemnly. "It must be torn up, root and stem and seed, lest new traitors sprout from every roadside. -- George R R Martin
Names are hard. I have a library of What to Name Your Baby books, and I'm always picking up new books, and books of baby names from other countries. I like cool-sounding names. -- George R R Martin
Love didn't just happen to us. We built it slowly over the years, stone by stone. For you, for your brothers and sisters, and for all of us. It's not as exciting as secret passion in the woods, but it is stronger. It lasts longer. -- George R R Martin
Life is not a song, sweetling.
Someday you may learn that, to your sorrow. -- George R R Martin
If he must be alone, he would make solitude his armor. -- George R R Martin
Your Grace," he said, when he and Cersei were alone, "I was wondering. Are you drunk, or merely stupid? -- George R R Martin
Even hungry dogs know better than to bite the hand that feeds them, -- George R R Martin
Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. ... -- George R R Martin
In the world as I have seen it, no man grows rich by kindness. -- George R R Martin
Shadows." The world seemed darker when he said it.
"Every man who walks the earth casts a shadow on the world. Some are thin and weak, others long and dark. -- George R R Martin
Everything's better with some wine in the belly. -- George R R Martin
Gentle Mother, font of mercy,
save our sons from war, we pray,
stay the swords and stay the arrows,
let them know a better day,
Gentle Mother, strength of women,
help our daughters through this fray,
soothe the wrath and tame the fury,
teach us all a kinder way. -- George R R Martin
Sunset found her squatting in the grass, groaning. Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up, she was shitting brown water. The more she drank the more she shat, but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew. -- George R R Martin
What sort of moths eat chainmail? -- George R R Martin
I have some devotional books you can look over. Learn to quote from them. Nothing discourages unwanted questions as much as a flow of pious bleating.
(Petyr Baelish to Sansa Stark) -- George R R Martin
Ned Stark kept his vows. He thought of the promises he'd made Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he'd paid to keep them. -- George R R Martin
He took another sip of ale, and began talking lovingly of breads and pies and tarts, all the things he loved. Arya rolled her eyes. -- George R R Martin
Firelight gleamed golden in the stiff whiskers that framed Lord Tywin's face. A vein pulsed in his neck, but he did not speak. And did not speak. And did not speak. -- George R R Martin
Better to die a knight than live like that. -- George R R Martin
If I took it away, no doubt I'd find a morningstar hidden under your pillow within a fortnight. Try not to stab your sister, whatever the provocation. -- George R R Martin
Sleep on your stone pillow, and let the gulls peck out your eyes while the crabs feast on your flesh. You've feasted on enough of them, you owe them. -- George R R Martin
A fat man always sits comfortably, I am thinking, for he takes his pillow with him wherever he goes. -- George R R Martin
His sister liked to think of herself as Lord Tywin with teats, but she was wrong. Their father had been as relentless and implacable as a glacier, where Cercei was all wildfire, especially when thwarted. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion was exceedingly courteous; he offered his sister the choice portions of every dish, and made certain he ate only what she did. Not that he truly thought she'd poison him, but it never hurt to be careful. -- George R R Martin
You look pale, Sansa," Cersei observed. "Is your red flower still blooming?"
"Yes"
"How apt. The men will bleed out there, and you in here. -- George R R Martin
My father went south once, to answer the summons of a king. He never came home again. -- George R R Martin
It was that white cloak that soiled me, not the other way around. -- George R R Martin
I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father. (Daenerys) -- George R R Martin
All dwarfs may be bastards yet not all bastards are dwarfs. -- George R R Martin
Your brother was a terrible traitor, I know, but if we start killing men at weddings they'll be even more frightened of marriage than they are presently. -- George R R Martin
I was very sorry to hear about your losses. Your brother was a terrible traitor, I know, but if we start killing men at weddings they'll be more frightened of marriage than they are presently. (Olenna Tyrell to Sansa Stark -- George R R Martin
Music to my ears." Though not a tune I'm fond of. -- George R R Martin
Irri and Jhiqui argued about Rakharo. "You are too skinny for him," Jhiqui was saying. "You are almost a boy. Rakharo does not bed with boys. This is known." Irri bristled back. "It is known that you are almost a cow. Rakharo does not bed with cows. -- George R R Martin
Catelyn wanted to run to him, to kiss his sweet brow, to wrap him in her arms so tightly that he would never come to harm ... -- George R R Martin
Yet, if he would not lie, what could he write but truth? -- George R R Martin
What would a Frey know of honor? - Sir Davos Seaworth -- George R R Martin
Beneath the gold, the bitter steel. -- George R R Martin
To Queen her is to kill her. -- George R R Martin
If there were ghosts in Harrenhal, they never troubled her. It was the living men she feared. -- George R R Martin
She had killed him with a whisper, and she would kill two more before she was through. I'm the ghost in Harrenhal, she thought. And that night, there was one less name to hate. -- George R R Martin
Harrenhal must be held, though, and Baelor Butthole here is the man that Cersei chose to hold it. -- George R R Martin
I am the ghost in Harrenhal. -- George R R Martin
Your wolves have more wit than your maester," the wildling woman said. "They know truths the grey man has forgotten." The way she said it made him shiver, and when he asked what the comet meant, she answered, "Blood and fire, boy, and nothing sweet. -- George R R Martin
Of all the bright cruel lies they tell you, the cruelest is the one called love. -- George R R Martin
The gold of a lowland lord is as worthless as a half man's promises' Gunthor said.
'Half a man I may be' Tyrion said. 'Yet I have the courage to face my enemies. What do the Stone Crows do, but hide behind rocks and shiver with fear as the knights of the Vale ride by? -- George R R Martin
There are ghosts everywhere. We carry them with us everywhere we go. -- George R R Martin
One of the things I love, and I'm a voracious reader as well as a writer, is books that surprise me, that are not predictable. -- George R R Martin
Pain's dark lord. My enemy, my lover. Again, yet again, wanting only an end to suffering, I rushed to his black embrace. Death took me, and the pain ended. -- George R R Martin
I am the blood of the dragon. I must be strong. I must have fire in my eyes when I face them, not tears. -- George R R Martin
Well, even if the boy lives, he'll be a cripple, grotesque. Give me a good, clean death any day.' ... 'Speaking for the grotesques, I'll have to disagree. Death is so final. Whereas life, ah life is so full of possibilities. -- George R R Martin
He'll be down with the books. My old septon used to say books are dead men talking. Dead men should keep quiet is what I say. No one wants to hear a dead man's yabber. -- George R R Martin
Never believe anything you hear at a woman's tit. -- George R R Martin
My sister has mistaken me for a mushroom. She keeps me in the dark and feeds me shit. -- George R R Martin
They had well-fed faces and laughter that was made cruel by its context the way a gem could be made ugly by being set in tin. -- George R R Martin
Another day done" - he would sigh - "and who knows what the morrow will bring us, eh, Dunk? -- George R R Martin
She never forgets a slight, real or imagined. She takes caution for cowardice and dissent for defiance. And she is greedy. Greedy for power, for honour, for love. -- George R R Martin
Is that gallantry I smell, or just stupidity? The two scents are much alike, as I recall. -- George R R Martin
They are children, Sansa thought. They are silly little girls, even Elinor. They've never seen a battle, they've never seen a man die, they know nothing. Their dreams were full of songs and stories, the way hers had been before Joffrey cut her fathers head off. Sansa pitied them. Sansa envied them. -- George R R Martin
Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul. -- George R R Martin
A man is never so vulnerable in a battle as when he flees," Lord Eddard has told Jon once. "A running man is like a wounded animal to a soldier. It gets his bloodlust up. -- George R R Martin
When the two men were ten yards apart, the Red Viper stopped and called out, "Have they told you who I am?"
Ser Gregor grunted through his breaths. "Some dead man. -- George R R Martin
He could hear Hodor singing "Hodor, hodor, hodor," quietly to himself. -- George R R Martin
Hodor, hush," said Bran. "Be quiet now. No more stupid hodoring. -- George R R Martin
Hodor," said Hodor. -- George R R Martin
Hodor looked at him innocently. "Hodor? -- George R R Martin
Hodor," said Hodor. "Hodor," Bran agreed. -- George R R Martin
Hodor squatted down beside the door, rocking back and forth on his haunches and muttering, "Hodor, hodor, hodor." Bran -- George R R Martin
Hoooodor," said Hodor, swaying. "Hooooooodor, hoooooodor, hoDOR, hoDOR, hoDOR." Sometimes he liked to do this, just saying his name different ways, over and over and over. -- George R R Martin
but then the shadow said "Hodor, -- George R R Martin
Hodor hodor hodor hodor," shouted Hodor, eyes wide. -- George R R Martin
And Hodor came lumbering in shouting Hodor! Hodor! Hodor! -- George R R Martin
Hodor twice as big, twice as strong, and half as clever. -- George R R Martin
Hodor, said Hodor. Maester -- George R R Martin
The bathhouse had been thick with the steam rising off the water and Jaime had come walking through that mist naked as his name day, looking half a corpse and half a god.He climbed into the tub with me, she remembered, blushing. -- George R R Martin
The pain was so huge he felt small and weak and helpless inside it, -- George R R Martin
I've always preferred writing about grey characters and human characters. Whether they are giants or elves or dwarves, or whatever they are, they're still human, and the human heart is still in conflict with the self. -- George R R Martin
Groat and penny are the smallest coins, worth the least, and what's worse, they chose the names themselves. -- George R R Martin
Things are not always as they seemed, Much that may seem evil can be good. -- George R R Martin
I feel satisfaction at the end of the day when I've written a scene that I really like or when I write a good line of dialogue that I read out to my wife or something like that. But there's also days where it's just bloody agony and I go, 'ugh, this is such crap! Why did I think I had any talent? -- George R R Martin
Love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear -- George R R Martin
The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north. -- George R R Martin
Septa Mordane said boar hunting was not for ladies, and Mother only promised that when she was older she might have her own hawk. She was older now, but if she had a hawk she'd eat it. -Arya Stark -- George R R Martin
Be certain," Catelyn told her son, "or go home and take up that wooden sword again. You cannot afford to seem indecisive in front of men like Roose Bolton and Rickard Karstark. Make no mistake, Robb-these are your bannermen, not your friends. You named yourself battle commander. Command. -- George R R Martin
Is it treason to say the truth? A bitter truth, but no less true for that. -- George R R Martin
If you want to lead, learn how to follow. -- George R R Martin
I know some writers can write on the road, but I'm not one of them. -- George R R Martin
Let him beg, it won't do him no good. -- George R R Martin
Beyond the Wall the monsters live, the giants and the ghouls, the stalking shadows and the dead that walk, but they cannot pass so long as the Wall stands strong and the men of the Night's Watch are true. So go to sleep Brandon, my baby boy, and dream sweet dreams. There are no monsters here. -- George R R Martin
This was something else: poison in the dark, a knife trust to the soul. -- George R R Martin
What's dead may never die. -- George R R Martin
It was not just for herself that she feared now, but for her baby. He must have sensed her fright, for he moved restlessly inside her. -- George R R Martin
Whisper a word in the wrong ear and before you knew it you'd be short a head. -- George R R Martin
Who better to raise Prince Rhaegar's infant son than Prince Rhaegar's dear friend Jon Connington, once Lord of Griffin's Roost and Hand of the King? -- George R R Martin
Something about the howling of a wolf took a man right out of his here and now and left him in a dark forest of the mind, running naked before the pack. -- George R R Martin
Bran tried to open his third eye, but he didn't know how. No matter how he wrinkled his forehead and poked at it, he couldn't see any different than he'd done before. -- George R R Martin
You are quite mad." The smoke had filled her eyes with tears. "If you were better born, I'd marry you. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion seated himself and took a sip of wine. If a man paints a target on his chest, he should expect that sooner or later someone will loose an arrow at him. I have seen dead men with more humor than your Ser Alliser. -- George R R Martin
But they were all dead now, even Arya, everyone but her half-brother, Jon. Some nights she heard talk of him, in the taverns and brothels of the Ragman's Harbor. The Black Bastard of the wall, one man had called him. Even Jon would never know Blind Beth, i bet. That made her sad. -- George R R Martin
You can match the queen coin for coin, I have no doubt, but she has a second purse that is quite inexhaustible. -- George R R Martin
So much for vows. Words are wind, -- George R R Martin
That's what they always ended up saying: "But I'm just sad." Feeling sad means having too much time on your hands, usually. Really. I'm not a licensed therapist but usually it means too much time. -- George R R Martin
Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds. -- George R R Martin
He slept with a ghost beside him, a supernaturally beautiful ghost, the husk of a dead dream. He woke to her each morning. -- George R R Martin
Whites were bright as fresh-fallen snow, yellow shone like gold, reds turned to flame, but the shadows were so black they looked like holes in the world. -- George R R Martin
A man like Tywin Lannister comes but only once in a thousand years. -- George R R Martin
Dany nibbled at an onion and reflected ruefully on the faithlessness of men. -- George R R Martin
For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. -- George R R Martin
If it were easy all men would do it. You must walk before you run. -- George R R Martin
I am too old a soldier to believe that. Hoster will be chiding me about the Redwyne girl even as we light his funeral pyre, damn his bones. -- George R R Martin
There are no men like me. There's only me -- George R R Martin
Never draw your sword unless you mean to use it. -- George R R Martin
I find I need less sleep as I grow older, and I am grown very old. I often spend half the night with ghosts, remembering times fifty years past as if they were yesterday. -- George R R Martin
It was different when there was a Stark in Winterfell. But the old wolf's dead and young one's gone south to play the game of thrones, and all that's left us is the ghosts. -- George R R Martin
We were talking about the prince,' Sansa said, her voice soft as a kiss.
Arya knew which prince she meant: Joffrey, of course. The tall, handsome one. Sansa got to sit with him at the feast. Arya had to sit with the little fat one. Naturally. -- George R R Martin
The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leathery wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. -- George R R Martin
Catelyn dreamt that Bran was whole again, that Arya and Sansa held hands, that Rickon was still a babe at her breast. Robb, crownless, played with a wooden sword, and when all were safe asleep, she found Ned in her bed, smiling -- George R R Martin
Such a man deserves a retinue to attend his needs in hell. -- George R R Martin
Do as you're told, sweetling, it won't be so bad. Wolves are supposed to be brave, aren't they? -- George R R Martin
Catelyn to her son. I have prepared a list of those we might wish to consider -- George R R Martin
The looters comes with the carrion crows after every battle. -- George R R Martin
I hate your stupid stories." The old woman smiled at him toothlessly.
"My stories? No, my little lord, not mine. The stories are, before me and after me, before you too. -- George R R Martin
Forbid her anything and it became her heart's desire. -- George R R Martin
My smile is my servant, he should come at my command. -- George R R Martin
Women do not forget. Women do not forgive. -- George R R Martin
I was just a kid selling monster stories to the kids in the projects, complete with a dramatic reading, making the werewolf sounds. My career was aborted early on because one of my main customers started to have nightmares and his mother came to my mother and my mother shut down my whole business. -- George R R Martin
Nothing bores me more than books where you read two pages and you know exactly how it's going to come out. I want twists and turns that surprise me, characters that have a difficult time and that I don't know if they're going to live or die. -- George R R Martin
Be careful what you say. The gods may not be the only ones listening. -- George R R Martin
When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits on the Iron Throne? -- George R R Martin
Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born. -- George R R Martin
As the tongue returns to a space left by a missing tooth. -- George R R Martin
Underneath his steal and wool and boiled leather, Jaime Lannister was a tapestry of cuts and scabs and bruises. -- George R R Martin
I take no joy in mead nor meat, and song and laughter have become suspicious strangers to me. I am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings. There is an empty place within me where my heart was once. -- George R R Martin
Children are a battle of a different sort ... A battle without banners or warhorns but no less fierce. -- George R R Martin
It's death and destruction I want to bring down upon House Lannister, not scorn. Jon said. -- George R R Martin
The high and humble crowded into the sept together to pray. -- George R R Martin
I'm honest. It's the world that's awful - Sandor Clegane, The Hound. ASOIAF -- George R R Martin
This time the Imp meant to fight, and a city that fought could expect no mercy at all. -- George R R Martin
On her way where?"
"Wherever whores go. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes she felt as though her heart had turned to stone; -- George R R Martin
What sort of gods make rats and plagues and dwarfs? -- George R R Martin
Come, drink with me," the fat man said. "A scale from the dragon that burned you, as they say. -- George R R Martin
Oh yes, it hurts at times to be alone among the stars. But it hurts a lot more to be alone at a party. A lot more. -- George R R Martin
One day, she promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong. But not today. It could not be today. -- George R R Martin
Lem glowered. Your lion friends ride into some village, take all the food and every coin they find, and call it foraging. the wolves as well, so why not us? no one robbed you, dog. You just been good and foraged. -- George R R Martin
Who ever heard of a king without ears? Why, his crown would fall straight down to his neck! -- George R R Martin
I will say, I think it odd that I am loved by one for a kindness I never did, and reviled by so many for my finest act. -- George R R Martin
I think I will try and sleep. Wake me if we're about to die. -- George R R Martin
The Night's Watch permitted the forest to come no closer than half a mile of the north face of the Wall. The thickets of ironwood and sentinel and oak that had once grown there had been harvested centuries ago, to create a broad swath of open ground through which no enemy could hope to pass unseen. -- George R R Martin
Robert could piss in a cup and men would call it wine, but I offer them cold clear water and they squint in suspicion and mutter to each other about how queer it tastes. -- George R R Martin
Snow, the boy is called," Pycelle said unhelpfully. "I glimpsed him once at Winterfell," the queen said, "though the Starks did their best to hide him. He looks very like his father." Her husband's by-blows had his look as well, though at least Robert had the grace to keep them out of sight. -- George R R Martin
Could a man walk while he was sleeping? -- George R R Martin
After my name day feast, I'm going to raise a host and kill your brother myself. That's what I'll give you, Lady Sansa. Your brother's head."
A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, "Maybe my brother will give me your head. -- George R R Martin
I often spend half the night with ghosts, remembering times fifty years past as if they were yesterday. The mystery of a midnight visitor is a welcome diversion. -- George R R Martin
The wolf blood, Arya remembered now. I'll be as strong as Robb, I said I would. She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside. 'I am a direwolf, and done with the wooden teeth. -- George R R Martin
Ten years a wold, and you land here and think to prince about the islands, but you know nothing and no one. Why should men fight and die for you?' 'I am their lawful prince,' Theon said stiffly. 'By the laws of the green lands, you might be. But we make our own laws here, or have you forgotten? -- George R R Martin
Joffrey is truly a little shit, -- George R R Martin
A maid has to be mistrustful in this world, or she will not be a maid for long. -- George R R Martin
Ser Rodrik groused. His opinion of singers was well known; music was a lovely thing for girls, but he could not comprehend why any healthy boy would fill his hand with a harp when he might have had a sword. -- George R R Martin
The best calumnies are spiced with truth. -- George R R Martin
Now pray excuse me, I need to hit someone very hard with a sword -Jon Snow -- George R R Martin
Must I say it, ser? You call me love, yet you refuse me, when I have most desperate need of you. Is it so wrong of me to want a knight to keep me safe? - Arianne -- George R R Martin
Only the soldier pines and sentinels still showed green; the broadleaf trees had donned mantles of russet and gold, or else uncloaked themselves to scratch against the sky with branches brown and bare. -- George R R Martin
One of the big breakthroughs, I think for me, was reading Robert A. Heinlein's four rules of writing, one of which was, 'You must finish what you write.' I never had any problem with the first one, 'You must write' - I was writing since I was a kid. But I never finished what writing. -- George R R Martin
Faith is always required. There are some things that cannot be proven. We believe that life is worth living. That is an article of faith. The purpose of life is to live, to resist death, perhaps to defy entropy. -- George R R Martin
If I could pray with my cock, I'd be much more religious -- George R R Martin
My lord father used to say a man should never draw his sword unless he means to use it. -- George R R Martin
I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter ... but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer's farce is almost done. -- George R R Martin
We all need to be mocked from time to time, lest we take ourselves too seriously. -- George R R Martin
I read bells. Not the sound of bells, no, no, but the feel of bells, the emotion of bells, the bright clanging joy, the hooting-shouting-ringing loudness, the song of the Joined, the togetherness and the sharing of it all. -- George R R Martin
Generally speaking, I'm much more in favour of penises entering vaginas than axes entering skulls. But the world seems to accept the violence a lot easier than the sex. -- George R R Martin
The prejudice is still there, but it's breaking down. You have writers like Michael Chabon and The Yiddish Policemen's Union. He's a writer who's determined to break down genre barriers. He's done amazing things. -- George R R Martin
I have always been a dark writer. -- George R R Martin
I seldom fling children from towers to improve their health. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion pushed forward. "MY LORDS! " he shouted. He had to shout, to have any hope of being heard.
His father raised a hand. Bit by bit, the hall grew silent. -- George R R Martin
No mortal man could frighten him, no more than the darkness could, nor the bones of his soul, the grey and grisly bones of his soul. -- George R R Martin
What a Kraken grasps it does not lose, be it a longship or leviathan. -- George R R Martin
When I'm writing from a character's viewpoint, in essence I become that character; I share their thoughts, I see the world through their eyes and try to feel everything they feel. -- George R R Martin
Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature.
Lyanna -- George R R Martin
The thought made his belly heave again. Sam bent over the gunwale and retched, but not into the wind. He had gone to the right rail this time. He was getting good at retching. -- George R R Martin
Thinking of Osha made Bran wonder where she was. He pictured her safe in White Harbor with Rickon and Shaggydog, eating eels and fish and hot crab pie with fat Lord Manderly. -- George R R Martin
I am a hollow shell, the crab's died, there's nothing left inside. Don't they know that? -- George R R Martin
Aerys Targaryen did as he liked. Has your mother ever told you what happened to him? -- George R R Martin
Arya lifted her gaze from the dead man and his dead dog. Jaqen H'ghar was leaning up against the side of the Wailing Tower. When he saw her looking, he lifted a hand to his face and laid two fingers casually against his cheek. -- George R R Martin
But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. 'Life is not a song, sweetling,' he'd told her, 'You may learn that one day to your sorrow.' In life, the monsters win, she told herself. -- George R R Martin
Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs -- George R R Martin
Robert got a pair of twins on a serving wench at Casterly Rock, three years ago when he went west for Lord Tywin's tourney. Cersei had the babes killed, and sold the mother to a passing slaver. -- George R R Martin
This is madness, Catelyn thought. Real enemies on every side and half the realm in flames, and Renly sits here playing at war like a boy with his first wooden sword. -- George R R Martin
When his brother Robb burst into the room, breathless from his dash up the tower steps, the direwolf was licking Bran's face. Bran looked up calmly. "His name is Summer," he said. -- George R R Martin
It is my look they will flinch from now, my frown that they must fear. -- George R R Martin
She saw a roof go up, flames licking at the belly of the night with hot orange tongues as the thatch caught. -- George R R Martin
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one. -- George R R Martin
With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I'm all of the actors and I'm the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I'm all of that. So if it's good or bad, it's all up to me. -- George R R Martin
I wanted to write a big novel, something epic in scale. -- George R R Martin
shared his unease. -- George R R Martin
Now you know " the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. "Now you know why you must live."
"Why " Bran said not understanding falling falling.
"Because winter is coming. -- George R R Martin
I was a wolf, she thought, but now I'm just a stupid little lady again. -- George R R Martin
The hard truths are the ones to hold tight. - Old Bear -- George R R Martin
Not everyone who spoke to you friendly was really your friend. -- George R R Martin
It was one thing to go into battle with friends, and another to perish alone and despised. -- George R R Martin
...seeing everything, yet a part of nothing. -- George R R Martin
People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up. -- George R R Martin
Why ask for truth when you close your ears to it? - Ser Barristan Selmy to Daenerys -- George R R Martin
Did I offend you?" Lannister said. "Sorry. Dwarfs don't have to be tactful. Generations of capering fools in motley have won me the right to dress badly and say any damn thing that comes into my head. -- George R R Martin
Am I still a thief if I put it all back and no one ever knows? -- George R R Martin
I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards and broken things. -- George R R Martin
If there are gods, why is the world so full of pain and injustice?'
'Because of men like you. -- George R R Martin
My great beard. I am his queen, but I will always be his cub as well, and he will always guard me -- George R R Martin
Every child knows its mother, Dany thought. When the seas go dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes there is no happy choice, Sam, only one less grievous than the others. - Jon Snow -- George R R Martin
Osha studied him. "You asked them and they're answering. Open your ears, listen, you'll hear." Bran listened. "It's only the wind," he said after a moment, uncertain. "The leaves are rustling." "Who do you think sends the wind, if not the gods? -- George R R Martin
Love is madness, and lust is poison. -- George R R Martin
Best stop swallowing, you're like to choke on it. -- George R R Martin
She ducked from her doorway and pressed on, neither too fast nor too slow, soft bootheels silent on the dewy cobbles, her unexceptional hood drawn down to an inconspicuous degree, the very image of a person with just the average amount to hide. -- George R R Martin
My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer and I have my mind ... and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That's why I read so much Jon Snow. -- George R R Martin
It is hard to die unmourned. -- George R R Martin
You always try to do your own thing. One of the things I wanted to do was to write a book that combines some of the best traits of contemporary fantasy with some of the traits of the historical novel. -- George R R Martin
When treating with liars, even an honest man must lie. -- George R R Martin
My father once told me that some men are not worth having," Jon finished. "A
bannerman who is brutal or unjust dishonors his liege lord as well as himself. -- George R R Martin
A sworn sworn owes his liege our service and obedience, but this is madness. -- George R R Martin
And the mystery knight should win the tourney, defeating every challenger, and name the wolf maid the queen of love and beauty." "She was," said Meera, "but that's a sadder story. -- George R R Martin
Red Rahloo means nothing here. You will only make the old gods angry. They are watching from their island. -- George R R Martin
Licorice steeped in vinegar, with honey and cloves. It will give you some strength and clear your head. -- George R R Martin
She could feel his seed within her. -- George R R Martin
Her Dothraki scouts had told her how it was, but Dairy wanted to see for herself. -- George R R Martin
The cold gods," she said. "The ones in the night. The white shadows. -- George R R Martin
My nose never lies," he boasted. "I can smell defiance, I can smell pride, I can smell disobedience. I catch a whiff of any such stinks, you'll answer for it. When I sniff you, all I want to smell is fear -- George R R Martin
Adventure stank. She boasted sixty oars, a single sail, and a long lean hull that promised speed. Small, but she might serve, Quentyn thought when he saw her, but that was before he went aboard and got a good whiff of her. -- George R R Martin
Every noble house had its words. Family mottoes, touchstones, prayers of sorts, they boasted of honor and glory, promised loyalty and truth, swore faith and courage. All but the Starks. Winter is coming, said the Stark words. -- George R R Martin
Nasty thing, a crossbow. How many men you kill with that?"
"Nine." His father counted for at least that many, surely. Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Shield of Lannisport, Hand of the King, husband, brother, father, father, father. -- George R R Martin
I like dogs better than knights. A hound will die for you, but never lie to you. And he'll look you straight in the face." He cupped her under the jaw, raising her chin, his fingers pinching
her painfully. "And that's more than little birds can do, isn't it? I never got my song. -- George R R Martin
Slavery is not the same as rain," she insisted. "I have been rained on and I have been sold. It is not the same. No man wants to be owned. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion Lannister: Someone should tell the cooks that turnips isn't a meat. -- George R R Martin
Once a man has seen a dragon in flight, let him stay home and tend his garden in content, someone had written once, for this wide world has no greater wonder. Tyrion scratched at his scar and tried to recall the author's name. -- George R R Martin
In life, the monsters win. -- George R R Martin
Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is STARK. -- George R R Martin
What could he have done, one man against so many? He could have tried, Brienne thought. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion smiled. "Lord Stannis has sailed from Dragonstone." Cersei bolted to her feet. "And yet you sit there grinning like a harvest-day pumpkin? -- George R R Martin
I have some other novels I want to write. I have a lot of short stories - I love the short story. -- George R R Martin
Littlefinger loves Littlefinger. -- George R R Martin
My brother is undoubtedly arrogant," Tyrion Lannister replied. "My father is the soul of avarice, and my sweet sister Cersei lusts for power with every waking breath. I, however, am innocent as a little lamb. Shall I bleat for you? -- George R R Martin
For Phyllis who made me put dragons in -- George R R Martin
Never forget what you are.
The rest of the world will not.
Wear it like an armor, and it can never be used to hurt you. -- George R R Martin
Don't write outlines; I hate outlines. -- George R R Martin
Would you rather die with honor intact or live with it besmirched? -- George R R Martin
No one who wears a crown is ever safe. -- George R R Martin
Older than sin and twice as mean -- George R R Martin
In your hearts you all want to fly free. -- George R R Martin
No, she wanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don't you see! Don't you SEE? -- George R R Martin
It is hard to be so old, and harder still to be so blind. I miss the sun. And books. I miss the books most of all. -- George R R Martin
His eyes could see inside you, could see how weak and worthless and ugly you were down deep. When he looked at you, you knew. -- George R R Martin
Your people will not love you if you take from them the gods they have always worshiped, and give them one whose very name sounds queer on their tongues. -- George R R Martin
The Castle can be rebuilt, in time. It's not the walls that make a lord, it's the man. - Stannis Baratheon -- George R R Martin
All these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers. -- George R R Martin
I'm going to tell Mother!" Joffrey exclaimed. -- George R R Martin
A mad man sees what he sees. -- George R R Martin
Ser Arys was pleasant company abed, but wit and he were strangers. (Arianne Martell) -- George R R Martin
I want her, he realized. I want Winterfell, yes, but I want her as well, child or woman or whatever she is. I want to comfort her. I want to hear her laugh. I want her to come to me willingly, bring me her joys and her sorrows and her lust. -- George R R Martin
Death should hold no fear for a man as old as me, but it does. Isn't that silly? It is always dark where I am, so why should I fear the darkness? Yet I cannot help but wonder what will follow, when the last warmth leaves my body. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion let the eunuch help him mount. "Lord Varys," he said from the saddle, "sometimes I feel as though you are the best friend I have in King's Landing and sometimes I feel you are my worst enemy."
"How odd. I think quite the same of you. -- George R R Martin
Woman?" She chuckled. "Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man." Dany met his stare. "I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, khaleesi to Drogo's riders, and queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. -- George R R Martin
Viserys sold my mother's crown, and men called him a beggar. I shall keep this one, so men will call me a queen. (Daenerys) -- George R R Martin
Soon comes the cold, and the night that never ends. -- George R R Martin
He looked like a naughty child who had managed to steal the moon and eat it. -- George R R Martin
Men will always underestimate you, he said, and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly, lest it be said that a woman tried them sorely. Let them spend their strength in furious attacks, whilst you conserve your own. Wait and watch, girl, wait and watch. -- George R R Martin
His blood is bad. He needs to be leeched. The leeches suck away the bad blood, all the rage and pain. No man can think so full of anger. -- George R R Martin
The sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler. Do you knows what that means?
No. Is it a riddle? -- George R R Martin
As we sin, so do we suffer, -- George R R Martin
Just where do you think you are going, Arya?' the septa demanded.
Arya glared at her. 'I have to go shoe a horse,' she said sweetly taking a brief satisfaction in the shock on the septa's face. -- George R R Martin
My old grandmother always used to say, Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever. -- George R R Martin
My most trusted advisers are a eunuch and a sellsword, and my lady's a whore. What does that say of me? -- George R R Martin
Give me a good sharp knife and a good sharp cheese and I'm a happy man. -- George R R Martin
Small men oft feel a need to prove their courage with unseemly boasts," he declared. "I doubt if he could kill a duck."
Tyrion shrugged. "Fetch the duck. -- George R R Martin
Stannis, my lord, my sad sullen boy, son I never had, you must not do this, don't you know how I have cared for you, lived for you, loved you despite all? Yes, loved you, better than Robert even, or Renly, for you were the one unloved, the one who needed me most. -- George R R Martin
There was this to be said for weddings over battles, at least; it was less likely that someone would cut off your nose. -- George R R Martin
He was obsessed not only with the acquisition of knowledge, but with its retention. -- George R R Martin
A true knight is cleanly as well as godly, the old man always said, insisting that they wash themselves head to heels every time the moon turned, whether they smelled sour or not. -- George R R Martin
If walls could keep us small, peasants would all be tiny and kings as large as giants," said Ser Jorah. "I've seen huge men born in hovels, and dwarfs who dwelt in castles. -- George R R Martin
I'm Pate," the other said, "like the pig boy. -- George R R Martin
One night, in his cups, he drank a jar of wildfire, after telling his friends it would transform him into a dragon, but the gods were kind and it transformed him into a corpse. -- George R R Martin
I am walking, he thought, exulting. Part of him knew that it was only a dream, but even the dream of walking was better than the truth of his bedchamber, walls and ceiling and door. -- George R R Martin
Shagga son of Dolf likes this not. Shagga will go with the boyman, and if the boyman lies, Shagga will chop off his manhood-"
"-and feed it to the goats, yes," Tyrion said wearily. -- George R R Martin
Shagga son of Dolf will chop off their manhoods and feed them to the crows. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion: Careful now, Shagga, you've cut him.
Shagga: Dolf fathered warriors, not barbers. -- George R R Martin
Little redcape," he snarled, "when next you bare steel on Shagga son of Dolf, I will chop off your manhood and roast it in the fire."
"What, no goats?" Tyrion said, taking a bite of his cheese. -- George R R Martin
We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our stead. -- George R R Martin
You could make a poultice out of mud to cool a fever. You could plant seeds in mud and grow a crop to feed your children. Mud would nourish you, where fire would only consume you, but fools and children and young girls would choose fire every time. -- George R R Martin
Sorcery is the sauce fools spoon over failure to hide the flavor of their own incompetence. -- George R R Martin
The singers make much of kings who valiantly die in battle, but your life is worth more than a sword. To me at least, who gave it to you. -- George R R Martin
She trusted Littlefinger only a little, and Varys not at all. -- George R R Martin
Littlefinger looked like a boy who had just taken a furtive bite from a honeycomb. He was TRYING to watch for bees, but the honey was so sweet. -- George R R Martin
Now, who is inside my solar?'
'Lord Littlefinger.' Podrick managed a quick look at his face, then hastily dropped his eyes. 'I meant, Lord Petyr. Lord Baelish. The master of coin.'
'You make him sound a crowd. -- George R R Martin
You look very elegant today, my lord."
"I'm wounded. I strive to look elegant every day." - Tyrion & Littlefinger -- George R R Martin
Littlefinger laughed aloud. With gold and boys and promises, of course. Ser Lyn is a man of simple tastes, my sweetling. All he likes is gold and boys and killing. -- George R R Martin
The Imp," said Littlefinger as Lord Varys watched her face. "Tyrion Lannister. -- George R R Martin
Littlefinger: A trade envoy from Lys once observed to me that Lord Stannis must love his daughter very well, since he'd erected hundreds of statues of her all along the walls of Dragonstone.
Tyrion: My lord, those are gargoyles. -- George R R Martin
Ser Barristan loves his honor, Grand Maester Pycelle loves his office, and Littlefinger loves Littlefinger. -- George R R Martin
In the game of thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them. -- George R R Martin
Lord Petyr," Ned called after him. "I ... am grateful for your help. Perhaps I was wrong to distrust you." Littlefinger fingered his small pointed beard. "You are slow to learn, Lord Eddard. Distrusting me was the wisest thing you've done since you climbed down off your horse. -- George R R Martin
I have more concern for my nephew's welfare than for Lannister pride. -- George R R Martin
She loved the sea. She liked the sharp salty smell of the air, and the vastness of the horizons bounded only by a vault of azure sky above. It made her feel small, but free as well. -- George R R Martin
The maester smiled ... Hush now, child, I'm much older than you. I can ... die as I please. -- George R R Martin
My life was writ in red, in blood and wine. -- George R R Martin
Is that a threat?" One of the Codds pushed to his feet. A big man, but pop-eyed and wide of mouth, with dead white flesh. He looked as if his father had sired him on a fish, but he still wore a longsword. "Dagon Codd yields to no man. -- George R R Martin
I'm a huge fan of Tolkien. I read those books when I was in junior high school and high school, and they had a profound effect on me. I'd read other fantasy before, but none of them that I loved like Tolkien. -- George R R Martin
If I am ever Hand again, the first thing I'll do is hang all the singers, said Tyrion, too loudly. -- George R R Martin
He cries behind his wall, I think, and no one knows, not even he. And no one will ever know, and in the end he'll always be alone in smiling pain. -- George R R Martin
Brothers, oh brothers, my days here are done, the Dornishman's taken my life, But what does it matter, for all men must die, and I've tasted the Dornishman's wife! -- George R R Martin
Men are mad and gods are madder. -- George R R Martin
She whispered. Robb looked at her as if she'd gone mad. "Mother, stay here. I'll come back as soon as the fire's out." He ran then. She heard him shout to the guards outside the room, heard them descending together in a wild rush, taking the stairs two and three at a time. -- George R R Martin
Your brother Jaime keeps losing battles. He gave Sansa an angry look, as if it were her fault. He's been taken by the Starks and we've lost Riverrun and now her stupid brother is calling himself a king.
The dwarf smiled crookedly. All sorts of people are calling themselves kings these days. -- George R R Martin
Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman's name. -- George R R Martin
But words in a book were one thing. The true test came in battle. -- George R R Martin
If the novels are still being read in 50 years, no one is ever going to say: 'What's great about that sixth book is that he met his deadline!' It will be about how the whole thing stands up. -- George R R Martin
Lord Snow wants to take my place now.' He sneered. 'I'd have an easier time teaching a wolf to juggle than you will training this aurochs.'
'I'll take that wager, Ser Alliser', Jon said. 'I'd love to see Ghost juggle. -- George R R Martin
Whether you're a history buff or a fantasy fan, Druon's epic will keep you turning pages. This was the original game of thrones. If you like 'A Song of Ice and Fire', you will love 'The Accursed Kings'. -- George R R Martin
Love is the death of duty. -- George R R Martin
There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man. -- George R R Martin
The things I do for love. -- George R R Martin
The Targaryens wed brothers and sisters for three hundred years to keep the blood line pure. -- George R R Martin
You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you ... -- George R R Martin
Six of the young cupbearers were playing some child's game as he entered, sitting in a circle on the floor as they took turns spinning a dagger. When it wobbled to a stop they cut a lock of hair off whichever of them the blade was pointing at. -- George R R Martin
The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong. -- George R R Martin
Only lies offend me, never honest counsel. -- George R R Martin
Lawless men are everywhere in this dark time, oh, yes. Men with cold steel and colder hearts. - Varys -- George R R Martin
Beware men with cold hearts and blue lips. -- George R R Martin
Next up, The Winds of Winter. Wherein, I hope, everybody will be shivering together once again. ... - George R. R. Martin April 2011 -- George R R Martin
She liked the sharp salty smell of the air, and the vastness of horizons bounded only by a vault of azure sky above. -- George R R Martin
Gaunt men with sunken eyes squatted amidst sand and stones, shitting out their lives in stinking streams of brown and red. -- George R R Martin
The Freys are prickly where marriage contracts are concerned. -- George R R Martin
The local fisherfolk were tying up for the night and crying the day's catch, but -- George R R Martin
I don't want to marry you,' Sansa wailed. 'You chopped off my father's head! -- George R R Martin
Her loins still ached from the urgency of his lovemaking. -- George R R Martin
His desire was as deep and boundless as the sea, but when the tide receded, the rocks of shame and guilt thrust up as sharp as ever. Sometimes the waves would cover them, but they remained beneath the waters, hard and black and slimy. -- George R R Martin
At sixteen, he was cursed with all the certainty of youth, unleavened by any trace of humor or self-doubt, and wed to the arrogance that came so naturally to those born blond and strong and handsome. -- George R R Martin
The shy girl she had known at Riverrun had grown into a woman who was by turns proud, fearful, cruel, dreamy, reckless, timid, stubborn, vain, and, above all, inconstant. -- George R R Martin
The vast majority of writers out there, they finish their books, and no one cares whether their book is late or ever comes out at all. And then it comes out, and two reviews are published, and it sells 12 copies. -- George R R Martin
Be careful when you seek to destroy another. For it is your soul that will be consumed and you are the one who will cry. Never allow anger and hatred to poison you. -- George R R Martin
In the Old Way, women might decorate themselves with ornaments bought with coin, but a warrior wore only the jewelry he took off the corpses of enemies slain by his own hand. Paying the iron price, it was called. -- George R R Martin
Drink won his sword, meet with my hammer. That's more than my demon can object. -- George R R Martin
Every boy dreams of serving in the Kingsguard. -- George R R Martin
No life was certain. -- George R R Martin
They were all around him, half a dozen of them, white-faced children with dark eyes, boys and girls together. And in their hands, the daggers. -- George R R Martin
Some mate," Karl Framm said with contempt. "Hell, that little stern-wheeler we're chasin' don't draw nothin'. After a good rain, she could steam halfway across the city of N'Orleans without ever noticin' that she'd left the river. -- George R R Martin
Pretty thing, and such a bad liar. A dog can smell a lie, you know. Look around you, and take a good whiff. They're all liars here ... and every one better than you. -- George R R Martin
Earth and water, soil and stone, oaks and elms and willows, they were here before us all and will still remain when we are gone. -- George R R Martin
No mother should outlive her children, and no captain should outlive his ship. -- George R R Martin
On the floor. The hooded cloak he wore was as white -- George R R Martin
She narrowed her eyes. "What is our heart's desire?"
"Vengeance." His voice was soft, as if he were afraid that someone might be listening. "Justice." Prince Doran pressed the onyx dragon into her palm with his swollen, gouty fingers, and whispered, "Fire and blood. -- George R R Martin
My nephew is not fit to sit a privy, let alone the Iron Throne. -- George R R Martin
Each night before sleep, she murmured her prayer into her pillow. "Ser Gregor," it went. "Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei. -- George R R Martin
Pain was as much a part of knighthood as were swords and shields. -- George R R Martin
Mangonels and trebuchets and rolling rams mounted -- George R R Martin
In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining. -- George R R Martin
Varys smiled. "Here, then. Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less." "So power is a mummer's trick?" "A shadow on the wall," Varys murmured, -- George R R Martin
It is good to know there are some true knights still. -- George R R Martin
Alone beneath a tallow candle, she allowed herself a shuddering sob, then another. A woman may weep, but not a queen. -- George R R Martin
I was not born this morning, Lannister."
"No, but you're like to die this afternoon. -- George R R Martin
Margaery, you're clever, be a dear and tell your poor old half-daft grandmother the name of that queer fish from the Summer Isles that puffs up to ten times its own size when you poke it."
"They call them puff fish, Grandmother."
"Of course they do. Summer Islanders have no imagination. -- George R R Martin
The boys were going to a place that none had ever been before, to serve an order that had been the enemy of their kith and kin for thousands of years, yet Jon saw no tears, heard no wailing mothers. These are winter's people, [ ... ] tears freeze upon your cheeks where they come from. -- George R R Martin
Tomorrow's trials concerned her more than yesterday's triumphs. -- George R R Martin
Pyp had stabbed a turnip with his knife. "The night is dark and full of turnips," he announced in a solemn voice. "Let us all pray for venison, my children, with some onions and a bit of tasty gravy. -- George R R Martin
What do I have? A life to live? Work to do? Children to raise, lands to rule, a woman to love? "You have nothing," finished Magister Illyrio, "but we can change that. -- George R R Martin
But I do exist. Remember that . . . This is not Avalon now, t'Larien, and today is not yesterday. It is a dying Festival world, a world without a code, so each of us must cling tightly to whatever codes we bring with us. (Jaan Vikary) -- George R R Martin
They say night's beauties fade at dawn, and the children of wine are oft disowned in the morning light. -- George R R Martin
Torches just blind you. On a clear night like this, the moon and the stars are enough. -- George R R Martin
Her nights were lit by distant stars and the shimmer of moonlight on snow, but every dawn she woke to darkness. -- George R R Martin
The more people you love, the weaker you are. -- George R R Martin
Can they love without a word for it? -- George R R Martin
A few lantern bugs were coming out, their little lights blinking on and off. The green water was warm as tears, but there was no salt in it. It tasted of summer and mud and growing things. -- George R R Martin
When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," she said sadly. "When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When my womb quickens again, and I bear a living child. Then you will return, my sun-and-stars, and not before." -Daenerys Targaryen -- George R R Martin
What is dead may never die, but rises again, stronger and harder. -- George R R Martin
She smells the way a mermaid ought to smell. She smells of the sea. -- George R R Martin
Think carefully before you say them, for once you have taken the black, there is no turning back. -- George R R Martin
Girl or boy, we fight our battles. But the God's let us choose our weapons. -- George R R Martin
She loved the fine hairs on his chest. She loved the strength in his arms, the sound of his laughter, the way he would always look into her eyes and say her name. -- George R R Martin
I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain but no one heard his grief. -- George R R Martin
No, but you have courage. Not battle courage perhaps but ... I don't know ... a kind of woman's courage. -- George R R Martin
I told Robb I'm sure to give him twins. An Eddard and a Brandon. -- George R R Martin
Power resides where men believe it to reside. -- George R R Martin
The glass candle is meant to represent truth and learning, rare and beautiful and fragile things. It is made in the shape of a candle to remind us that a maester must cast light wherever he serve, and it is a sharp to remind us that knowledge can be dangerous. -- George R R Martin
the man as asks the question must bear the answer. -- George R R Martin
I have been despised by better men than you. -- George R R Martin
I've always taken that as my guiding principle and the rest is just set dressing. You can have dragons in it, or aliens and starships, or a western about a gunslinger, or even literary fiction, and ultimately you're still writing about the human heart in conflict with itself. -- George R R Martin
Yes - 90% of fantasy is crap. And so is 90% of science fiction and 90% of mystery fiction and 90% of literary fiction. -- George R R Martin
Until what? Foolish woman, will holding it secret in our heart make it any less true? If you never tell, never speak of it, will it become only a dream, less than a dream, a nightmare half-remembered? Oh, if only the gods would be so good. -- George R R Martin
It's you and me that matters to me and you. -- George R R Martin
The night is dark and full of terrors, and so are dreams. -- George R R Martin
Between dock and deck. -- George R R Martin
Shagga's more like to eat the maid and marry the goose -- George R R Martin
You are in difficulty," she observed.
"He will not come," Kraznys said.
"There is a reason. A dragon is no slave. -- George R R Martin
Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower? No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap. -- George R R Martin
As she watched him, this tall young man with the new beard and the direwolf prowling at his heels, all she could see was the babe they had laid at her breast at Riverrun, so long ago. -- George R R Martin
The rain feels so good against my face, Sam. It feels like tears. Let me stay awhile longer, I pray you. It has been a long time since I last wept. -- George R R Martin
Kill the boy and let the man be born. -- George R R Martin
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE WALL ... Hey, wait a minute!" some of you may be saying about now. "Wait a minute, wait a minute! Where's Dany and the dragons? Where's Tyrion? We hardly saw Jon Snow. That can't be all of it. ... " Well, no. There's more to come. -- George R R Martin
Men could not live in such iron weather. -- George R R Martin
The intelligent and efficient politician is a species virtually unknown in the galaxy, -- George R R Martin
A fish on a leash, he said, chortling. There's a sight I never saw before. -- George R R Martin
If only he had more humor, more life in him; that was what was needed here. Grim places needed lightening, not solemnity, -- George R R Martin
Sorcery is a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it. -- George R R Martin
A bruise is a lesson ... and each lesson makes us better. -- George R R Martin
She screamed a word. -- George R R Martin
Besides, his father and uncles were old, and the old lords were like that; they took their dusty feuds to the grave, forgetting nothing and forgiving less. -- George R R Martin
Some men look larger at a distance. -- George R R Martin
Do not despair, Lord Snow. Despair is a weapon of the enemy, whose name may not be spoken. -- George R R Martin
The only peace you make is with your enemies. That is why they call it 'making peace'. -- George R R Martin
But prominent families, often forget a simple truth, I've found.
Knowledge is power. -- George R R Martin
She was no maid; if she could look on the grey wall's scenes of slaughter, why should she avert her eyes from the sight of men and women giving pleasure to one another? -- George R R Martin
Corn! Corn! Corn! -- George R R Martin
What good did it do you to be brave? -- George R R Martin
So go to sleep, my little Brandon, my baby boy. You needn't fear. There are no monsters here. -- George R R Martin
The sea is never weary. I must be as tireless. -- George R R Martin
She should be on a hill somewhere, under a fruit tree, with the sun and clouds above her and the rain to wash her clean. -- George R R Martin
When the end comes, I will meet it raging. -- George R R Martin
It was well known among rivermen that having a preacher and a gray mare on board was an invitation to disaster. -- George R R Martin
The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. -- George R R Martin
When will he be as he was?' Dany demanded.
'When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east' said Mirri Maz Duur. 'When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before. -- George R R Martin
Here and now, with winter soon upon us, that is a different matter. It is time to begin growing up. -- George R R Martin
And King Harren learned that thick walls and high towers are small use against dragons," the tale always ended. "For dragons fly. -- George R R Martin
Lord Tywin Lannister did not, in the end, shit gold. -- George R R Martin
She held Needle in her left hand, her sword hand, the candle in her right fist. -- George R R Martin
A king should never sit easy, Aegon the Conqueror had said, when he commanded his armorers to forge a great seat from the swords laid down by his enemies. -- George R R Martin
And Winterfell ... grey granite, oak and iron, crows wheeling around the towers, steam rising off the hot pools in the godswood, the stone kings sitting on their thrones ... how could Winterfell be gone? -- George R R Martin
He has Lightbringer. He talks of heads upon the walls of Winterfell. He knows about the spearwives and their number." He knows about Mance Rayder. "No. There is truth in there. -- George R R Martin
Whore! someone cried out. A woman's voice. Women were always the cruelest where other women were concerned. -- George R R Martin
I have never forgotten, and I can't imagine you have, and I've thought of it over the years. It was so good, when it was good, I kept thinking. How could it go wrong? -- George R R Martin
I am surrounded by flatterers and fools. It can drive a man to madness,.. Half of them don't dare tell me the truth, and the other half can't find it. -- George R R Martin
No man is so accused as the kinslayer. -- George R R Martin
When soldiers lack discipline, the fault lies with their lord commander. -- George R R Martin
I was so careful. How could he know?
Someone told. Someone always tells. -- George R R Martin
Dark wings, dark words. -- George R R Martin
No one was paying any mind to Bran. -- George R R Martin
Here every castle had its godswood, and every godswood had its heart tree, and every heart tree its face. -- George R R Martin
She remembered the godswood, drooping branches heavy with moisture, and the sound of her brother's laughter as he chased her through piles of damp leaves. -- George R R Martin
No wounded man shall sound me and live. -- George R R Martin
We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he'll drink them down and ask for more. -- George R R Martin
Take me away, take me to the land of always-winter -- George R R Martin
Soon her ice dragon would come for her, and she would ride on its back to the land of always-winter -- George R R Martin
His voice was like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, and the words were mocking -- George R R Martin
The world is full of cravens who pretended to be heroes. -- George R R Martin
Free folk don't follow names, or little cloth animals sewn on a tunic," the King-Beyond-the-Wall had told him. "They won't dance for coins, they don't care how your style yourself or what that chain of office means or who your grandsire was. They follow strength. They follow the man. -- George R R Martin
The clean truth of light can sometimes flow through its blackness, beauty seen dimly through darkness, and like life, it is terribly fragile, with edges that can be dangerously sharp. -- George R R Martin
Be careful you don't cut yourself. The edges are sharp enough to shave with.'
'Girls don't shave', Arya said.
'Maybe they should. Have you ever seen the septa's legs? -- George R R Martin
Her lord father had taught her never to steal, but it was growing harder to remember why. -- George R R Martin
Trays of pastries from his castle kitchens, cream swans and spun-sugar unicorns, lemon cakes in the shape of roses, spiced honey biscuits and blackberry tarts, apple crisps and wheels of buttery cheese. -- George R R Martin
I arrived here a King's Hand, riding through the gates at the head of my own sworn men, Tyrion reflected, and I leave like a rat scuttling through the dark, holding hands with a spider. -- George R R Martin
Everything Syrio Forel had ever taught her vanished in a heartbeat. In that instant of sudden terror, the only lesson Arya could remember was the one Jon Snow had given her, the very first.
She stuck him with the pointy end, driving the blade upward with a wild, hysterical strength. -- George R R Martin
Tell me where do whores go? -- George R R Martin
He brought them the gold they asked for, but they hung him anyway." "Hanged, Ami. Your father was not a tapestry. -- George R R Martin
There are two kinds of writers. There are architects and gardeners. The architects do blueprints before they drive the first nail. The gardeners just dig a hole and plant the seed and see what comes up. -- George R R Martin
Out. The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, "Edd, fetch me a block," and unsheathed Longclaw. -- George R R Martin
Your lips were made for kissing.
They are lips. All lips are the same.
And all lips are made for kissing. -- George R R Martin
Sing to me in the language of leviathan, that I may know his name. -- George R R Martin
Trackers and hunters sworn to deepwood with clan names like Forrester and Woods, branch and bole. -- George R R Martin
A man can own a woman, and a man can own a knife, but no man can own both, -- George R R Martin
If she pops out sons the way she pops in tarts, the Dreadfort will soon be overrun with Boltons. -- George R R Martin
These old knights are more cunning than you think, or they would never have lived to see their first grey hair. -- George R R Martin
What is a human mind? Memories. Memories are data. Character, personality, individual volition. Those are programming. -- George R R Martin
I can . . . die as I please. -- George R R Martin
The decks of Euron's ship were painted red, to better hide the blood that soaked them. -- George R R Martin
In the end words are just wind. -- George R R Martin
Fire consumes, but cold preserves. -- George R R Martin
I wish I was home, she said miserably. She tried so hard to be brave, to be fierce as a wolverine and all, but sometimes she felt like she was just a little girl after all. The -- George R R Martin
The beginning of her story is lost to us, with the memory of the world from which she sprang. The end? The end is not yet, and when it comes we shall not know it. We have only the middle, or rather a piece of that middle, the smallest part of the legend, a mere fragment of the quest. -- George R R Martin
The pale sword came shivering through the air -- George R R Martin
They say it grows so cold up here in winter that a man's laughter freezes in his throat and chokes him to death," Ned said evenly. "Perhaps that is why the Starks have so little humor. -- George R R Martin
Dywen now, he says we need to learn to ride dead horses, like the Others do. He claims it would save on feed. How much could a dead horse eat? -- George R R Martin
The most insidious thing about bondage was how easy it was to grow accustomed to it. -- George R R Martin
I have many books that I want to write; I'd like to think that I'll be around for another 20 years or so and write another dozen novels, probably some sort of imaginative literature ... Never again another seven-volume saga. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes there is truth in dreams. -- George R R Martin
They're highborn, all but Blane, they get drunk on words instead of wine. -- George R R Martin
Yet they require me to make them true, he thought. It had been a long time since Davos Seaworth felt so sad. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes he could almost forget that it was there, the way you forget about the sky or the earth underfoot, but there were other times when it seemed as if there was nothing else in the world. -- George R R Martin
One day there would be Starks in Winterfell again, he told himself, and then he'd send for the Liddles and pay them back a hundredfold for every nut and berry. -- George R R Martin
Only a fool makes threats he's not prepared to carry out. If I were to threaten to hit you unless you shut your mouth, and you presumed to speak, what do you think I'd do? -- George R R Martin
Woman? Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man. - Daenerys Targaryen -- George R R Martin
The crow calls the raven black. -- George R R Martin
The drums were so near that the beat crept under his skin and set his hands to twitching. -- George R R Martin
He had lived his lies for fourteen years, yet they still haunted him at night. -- George R R Martin
I'll smith for you," Gendry went to one knee before Lord Beric. "If you'll have me, m'lord, I could be of use. I've made tools and knives and once I made a helmet that wasn't so bad. One of the Mountain's men stole it from me when we was taken."
Arya bit her lip. He means to leave me too. -- George R R Martin
I am Cersei of House Lannister, a lion of the Rock, the rightful queen of these Seven Kingdoms, trueborn daughter of Tywin Lannister. And hair grows back. -- George R R Martin
They had woken him as they had her, pounding on his door in the black of night to yank him rudely from his dreams. Were they good dreams, brother? Do you dream of sunlight and laughter and a maiden's kisses? I pray you do. Her own dreams were dark and laced with terrors. -- George R R Martin
And when you have it, what then? Some secrets are safer kept hidden. Some secrets are too dangerous to share, even with those you love and trust. -- George R R Martin
The Lannisters may have their pride," she told Mya, "but the Tullys are born with better sense. -- George R R Martin
unctuous way he had. "How you must have yearned -- George R R Martin
He is a man of the Night's Watch, She thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince. Arya Stark (page 514) -- George R R Martin
Should start back," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. "The wildlings are dead." "Do the dead frighten -- George R R Martin
They have scarcely finished burying the dead from the last battle, and already they are practicing for the next one. -- George R R Martin
How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes and one. -- George R R Martin
It was bitingly cold up here,and the wind pulled at his clothes like an insistent lover. -- George R R Martin
There are things to be learned even from the dead. -- George R R Martin
Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I'll sleep more easily by night. -- George R R Martin
... When you've know me longer, you'll learn that I mean everything I say."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies. Lord Petyr ... -- George R R Martin
I spent a whole summer working on what proved to be 'A Game of Thrones'. -- George R R Martin
The light that brings the dawn. -- George R R Martin
Fat men take a cushion with them wherever they go. -- George R R Martin
That was a lesson Melisandre had learned long before Asshai; the more effortless the sorcery appears, the more men fear the sorcerer. -- George R R Martin
The longer Cersei waits, the angrier she'll become, and anger makes her stupid. I much prefer angry and stupid to composed and cunning. -- George R R Martin
The rocking of the deck beneath his feet made his stomach heave, and the wretched food tasted even worse when retched back up. -- George R R Martin
I know a song about him. But I thought he lived a hundred years ago.
We all did. Once I was as young as you. -- George R R Martin
A book can be as dangerous as a sword in the right hands, said Haldon. -- George R R Martin
Dreams are what we have. All we have. -- George R R Martin
I knew that, when writing a book, you're not constrained by a budget. You're not constrained by what you can do, in terms of the special effects technology. You're not limited to any particular running time. -- George R R Martin
It took all her strength not to weep. She had been weeping too much of late. It was unseemly, she knew, but she could not seem to help herself; the tears would come, sometimes over a trifle, and nothing she did could hold them back. -- George R R Martin
A headsman's sword is no fit end for brave Ser Gregor. We have prayed so long for his death, it is only fair that he pray for it as well. -- George R R Martin
In the cool weak light the nightflames all had died, and the silent streets echoed death and desolation. Worlorn's day. Yet it was twilight. -- George R R Martin
The babes are well?" he asked her. The wildling girl smiled timidly from under her cowl. "Yes, m'lord. I was scared I wouldn't have milk enough for both, but the more they suck, the more I have. They're strong. -- George R R Martin
But it was better not to speak of the things you wanted. -- George R R Martin
It was a hollow victory they gave me. A crown ... it was the girl I prayed them for. Your sister, safe ... and mine again as she was meant to be. I ask you, Ned, what good is it to wear a crown? -- George R R Martin
But Tolkien doesn't ask the question: What was Aragorn's tax policy? -- George R R Martin
A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone. -- George R R Martin
A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. -- George R R Martin
I mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone. - Tyrion Lannister -- George R R Martin
My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind ... and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. Tyrion -- George R R Martin
The last one was a bitch. this one was three bitches and a bastard -- George R R Martin
Weese was sprawled across the cobbles, his throat a red ruin, eyes gaping sightlessly up at a bank of grey cloud. -- George R R Martin
I like grey characters; fantasy for too long has been focused on very stereotypical heroes and villains. -- George R R Martin
Ask the Prince of Dragonstone." For an instant, the deep red clouds that crowned the western hills reminded him of Rhaegar's children, all wrapped up in crimson cloaks. -- George R R Martin
It was not the scorn of the many that left her confused and vulnerable, but the kindness of the few. -- George R R Martin
Even the truest knight cannot protect a king against himself -- George R R Martin
I am not without mercy, thundered he who was notoriously without mercy. -- George R R Martin
That's one way we differ, Jaime and I. He's taller as well, you may have noticed. -- George R R Martin
So the wolfling is leaving his den to play among the lions, he said in a voice of quiet satisfaction. -- George R R Martin
Edd, fetch me a block. -- George R R Martin
Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same. -- George R R Martin
He is a sweet boy, quick to laugh, easy to love. -- George R R Martin
Sweetness cloys. Tart fruit and tart women give life its savor ... Daenerys, sweet queen, I cannot tell you what a pleasure it gives me to bask once more in your presence. -- George R R Martin
Our honor means no more than our lives, so long as the realm is safe. -- George R R Martin
It was another of the Great Bastards: Ser Aegor Rivers, called Bittersteel. Perhaps it was his Bracken blood that made Aegor so choleric and so quick to take offense. Perhaps it was the ignominious fall of the -- George R R Martin
Quentyn Martell almost laughed aloud. The gods are mad. -- George R R Martin
Troubled sleep was no stranger to him. He had lived his lies for fourteen years, -- George R R Martin
Tolkien made the wrong choice when he brought Gandalf back. Screw Gandalf. He had a great death and the characters should have had to go on without him. -- George R R Martin
This emptiness - infinite darkness, infinite stillness, trapped alone with only his own mind - was what had always waited for him all his life, in spite of the blessings and benedictions of the Church, in spite of his sins and occasional semi-sincere repentance. -- George R R Martin
I am sorry for your loss." "I had a new hand made, of gold." He showed her. "Very nice. Will they make you a gold father too?" Lady Genna's voice was sharp. "Tywin was the loss I meant. -- George R R Martin
Family, Duty, Honor, -- George R R Martin
Yields?" Lord Rowan laughed. "When Mace Tyrell laid siege to Storm's End, Stannis ate rats rather than open his gates. -- George R R Martin
Most have been forgotten. Most deserve to be forgotten. The heroes will always be remembered. The best. The best and the worst. And a few who were a bit of both. -- George R R Martin
I don't want to be a queen. I want to be the queen. -- George R R Martin
I have taught my Margaery what comely is worth, I hope. Less than a mummer's fart. -- George R R Martin
If I were Mace Tyrell, I would sooner have Joffrey's head on a pike than his cock in my daughter. -- George R R Martin
The realm will rise for its rightful king. Tyrell, -- George R R Martin
What we want is not always what we get. -- George R R Martin
Knights die in battle," Catelyn reminded her. Brienne looked at her with those blue and beautiful eyes. "As ladies die in childbed. No one sings songs about them. -- George R R Martin
Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. -- George R R Martin
Maester Luwin says there's nothing in dreams that a man need fear.'
'There is,' said Jojen.
'What?'
'The past. The future. The truth. - Bran & Jojen -- George R R Martin
I am doing the right thing, he told himself, so why do I feel so bad? -- George R R Martin
Some nights she drowsed, but never for more than an hour. One day, Melisandre prayed, she would not sleep at all. One day she would be free of dreams. -- George R R Martin
Melisandre: I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R'hllor shows me only snow. -- George R R Martin
What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister? -- George R R Martin
Where Melisandre thinks to find a sleeping dragon, no one is quite sure. It's nonsense. Mance's blood is no more royal than mine own. -- George R R Martin
Now here is a riddle," Melisandre said. "A clever fool and a foolish wise man. -- George R R Martin
A valiant deed unsung is no less valiant. -- George R R Martin
I could keep you safe," he rasped. "They're all afraid of me. No one would hurt you again, or I'd kill them -Sandor Clegane -- George R R Martin
And some soon will learn that even an ember in the ashes can still ignite a great blaze. -- George R R Martin
My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel. -- George R R Martin
Davos could not complain of chill. The smooth stony passages -- George R R Martin
The gods made seven wonders and mortal men made mine. -- George R R Martin
Warn you, Lannister, you'll find no inns at the Wall," he had said, looking down on him. "No doubt you'll find some place to put me," Tyrion had replied. "As you might have noticed, I'm small. -- George R R Martin
I sailed up to the cold stars but they were cold no longer, and I grew bigger and bigger until I was the stars and they were me, and I was Union, and for a single solitary glittering instant I was the universe. -- George R R Martin
My Throne is made from the swords of my enemies. -- George R R Martin
My mother said my father had a drop of dragon blood."
"Two drops. That, or a cock six feet long. -- George R R Martin
Aside from her aged maid, Sansa's only companion was the Lord Robert, eight going on three. -- George R R Martin
Do the dead frighten you? -- George R R Martin
Your boat's not like to sink, I don't think. Boats only sink when I'm aboard. -- George R R Martin
I know nothing, Ygritte, he [Jon Snow] thought, and perhaps I never will (465). -- George R R Martin
Gods and wonders always appear, to attend the birth of kings. -- George R R Martin
Dragons are fire made flesh. -- George R R Martin
Past a certain point, all the dates grow hazy and confused, and the clarity of history becomes the fog of legend. -- George R R Martin
Shall I prick my prick as well? -- George R R Martin
Over the years, more than one reviewer has described my fantasy series, 'A Song of Ice and Fire', as historical fiction about history that never happened, flavoured with a dash of sorcery and spiced with dragons. I take that as a compliment. -- George R R Martin
I suppose I'm a lapsed Catholic. You would consider me an atheist or agnostic. -- George R R Martin
Or maybe people just like to overpraise a famous name. -- George R R Martin
It is a wise woman who knows her place. -- George R R Martin
North or south? Shall I atone for old sins or make some new ones? -- George R R Martin
The heart of Casterly Rock. Remember the fate of Rhaegar's children." She saw the fear in his young eyes then, but there was a strength as well. "Then I will not lose, -- George R R Martin
Stone, I must be stone, I must be Casterly Rock, hard and unmovable. -- George R R Martin
A fool more foolish than most had once jested that even Lord Tywin's shit was flecked with gold. Some said the man was still alive, deep in the bowels of Casterly Rock. -- George R R Martin
The Lord of Casterly Rock made such an impressive figure that it was a shock when his destrier dropped a load of dung right at the base of the throne. -- George R R Martin
If I look back I am lost. It hurt even to walk, and she wanted to sleep, to sleep and not to dream. -- George R R Martin
You haggle like a crone with a codfish. -- George R R Martin
There was no shame in being afraid, only in showing your fear. -- George R R Martin
Ser Loras lusts for glory as real men lust for women, the least the gods can do is grant him a death worthy of a song. -- George R R Martin
The faithful dog is kicked, and no matter how the spider weaves, he is never loved. -- George R R Martin
Life is warmth and warmth is fire, and fire is God's and God's alone. -- George R R Martin
Bronn himself, who'd only smiled that insolent dark smile of his and afterward said, "They'll kill for that knighthood, but don't ever think they'll die for it."
Tyrion had no such delusion. -- George R R Martin
Different roads sometimes leads to the same castle. Who knows? -- George R R Martin
It's really irritating when you open a book, and 10 pages into it you know that the hero you met on page one or two is gonna come through unscathed, because he's the hero. This is completely unreal, and I don't like it. -- George R R Martin
Love is the sweetest, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature. -- George R R Martin
Winter is coming, and when the Long Night falls, only the Night's Watch will stand between the realm and the darkness that sweeps from the North. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, and the wind that blows exiles across the narrow sea seldom blows them back. That -- George R R Martin
Men are seldom as they appear. You look so very guilty that I am convinced of your innocence. Still, you will likely be condemned. Justice is in short supply this side of the mountains. There has been none for Elia, Aegon, or Rhaenys. Why should there be any for you? -- George R R Martin
Any cat may stare into a fire and see red mice play, -- George R R Martin
We're children. We're supposed to be childish. -- George R R Martin
Why would the gods send a warning if we can't heed it and change what's to come? -- George R R Martin
The smell of food made him realize how ravenous he was. There was hot bread and honey, a bowl of pease porridge, a skewer of roast onions and well-charred meat. He sat by the tray, pulled apart the bread with his hands, and stuffed some into his mouth. -- George R R Martin
I will not serve with oathbreakers and murderers.
[Jaime, Inwardly] Then why did you ever bother putting on a sword? -- George R R Martin
If he can give us the Stormcrows, surprise is certain"
"And if he betrays you, suprise is lost. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion wondered what it would be like to have a twin, and decided that he would rather not know. Bad enough to face himself in a looking glass every day. -- George R R Martin
Silver's sweet and gold's our mother, but once you're dead they're worth less than that last shit you take as you lie dying. -- George R R Martin
She did not come to him, however. She has never come to me, he tough. She has always waited, letting me come to her. She gives, but I must ask. -- George R R Martin
Have a care how you speak to me, Imp. Doubtless he meant to sound threatening, but that absurd wisp of a mustache ruined the effect. -- George R R Martin
If the day ever comes when you're tempted to sell me out, remember this, Bronn - I'll match their price, whatever it is. I like living. -- George R R Martin
The women are the strong ones, truly. -- George R R Martin
Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become. -- George R R Martin
There is only one god, and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: 'Not today'. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion shrugged. We all need to be mocked from time to time Lord Mormont lest we start to take ourselves too seriously. -- George R R Martin
I knew a brother drowned himself in wine once. It was a poor vintage, though, and his corpse did not improve it."
"You drank the wine?"
"It's an awful thing to find a brother dead. You'd have need of a drink as well, Lord Snow. -- George R R Martin
In a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, -- George R R Martin
Man wants to be the king o' the rabbits, he best wear a pair o' floppy ears. -- George R R Martin
A man who fights for coin is loyal only to his purse. -- George R R Martin
A coin is as dangerous as a sword in the wrong hands. -- George R R Martin
If the day comes when you would find me again, give that coin to any man from Braavos, and say these words to him
valar morghulis.
Jaqen H'ghar, A Clash of Kings -- George R R Martin
The heart lies and the head plays tricks on us, but the eyes see true. Look with your eyes. Hear with your ears. Taste with your mouth. Smell with your nose. Feel with your skin. Then comes the thinking, afterward, and in a way knowing the truth. -- George R R Martin
The wildlings were cruel men, she said, slavers and slayers and thieves. They consorted with giants and ghouls, stole girl children in the dead of night, and drank blood from polished horns. And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children. -- George R R Martin
Good armor and a good horse means a good ransom if I unseat him. -- George R R Martin
Might have punctured a lung, if he had a lung. Most trees don't, as a rule. -- George R R Martin
The cat who wants his bowl of cream must know when to purr and when to show his claws - Ser Kyle, the Cat of Misty Moor -- George R R Martin
No one sang up there. No one ever laughed too loud. Even the gods were silent. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes a man knows more than he says. -- George R R Martin
Men are beasts, selfish and brutal. However gentle the words, there are always darker motives underneath. -- George R R Martin
Start with short stories. After all, if you were taking up rock climbing, you wouldn't start with Mount Everest. So if you're starting fantasy, don't start with a nine-book series. -- George R R Martin
The man who never reads lives only once. -- George R R Martin
He needed sleep, but whenever he closed his eyes he dreamed of blowing snow -- George R R Martin
Some secrets are safer kept hidden. Some secrets are too dangerous to share with those you love and Trust
Ned Stark -- George R R Martin
You ought to thank me for killing your enemy," Jon said finally, "and curse me for killing your friend. -- George R R Martin
A man should smell of sweat, not flowers. -- George R R Martin
You want to know the horrible truth ?
I cant even remember what she looked like! I only know she was the one thing I ever wanted..and 7 kingdoms couldnt fill the hole she left behind -- George R R Martin
A few wisps of smoke still rose from the blackened stones of Hazdar, twisted like ribbons by the wind. -- George R R Martin
May the Warrior grant me a smooth course and a quick victory. -- George R R Martin
She don't speak," said the big man in the yellow cloak. "You bloody bastards cut her throat too deep for that. But she remembers." He turned to the dead woman and said, "What do you say, m'lady? Was he part of it?" Lady Catelyn's eyes never left him. She nodded. -- George R R Martin
Often, even with a deep cut, the blood came before the pain. -- George R R Martin
Only a craven would steal a fruit when he could take the orchard. -- George R R Martin
You will return to Lord Gyles and inform him that he does not have my leave to die. -- George R R Martin
None of us is ever ready -- George R R Martin
She had a warrior's heart, but the gods in their blind malice had given her the feeble body of a woman. -- George R R Martin
Poison is a coward's weapon' the king complained. Ned had heard enough. 'You send hired knives to kill a fourteen-year-old girl and still quibble about honor? -- George R R Martin
I crossed a thousand leagues to come to you, and lost the best part of me along the way. Don't tell me to leave. -- George R R Martin
Spend my time warring and whoring, that's what I was made for. -- George R R Martin
When he opened his mouth to curse them all, black water filled his lungs, and the dark closed in around him. -- George R R Martin
Winter is coming, warned the Stark words, and truly it had come to them with a vengeance. But it is high summer for House Lannister. So why am I so bloody cold? -- George R R Martin
For they are the knights of summer, and winter is coming. -- George R R Martin
times may change, but men do not. -- George R R Martin
I don't pay you for whispers. Sing! -- George R R Martin
The worst ones always live. -- George R R Martin
Remember, we know where you sleep, Jon said softly. -- George R R Martin
Will be along next year in A Dance with Dragon ... -- George R R Martin
Nothing burns like the cold. But only for a while. Then it gets inside you and starts to fill you up, and after a while you don't have the strength to fight it. -- George R R Martin
He had no choice, he had told her, and then he left, choosing. -- George R R Martin
The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer. -- George R R Martin
I am not going to get into it myself, except to say
(1) if I am writing "boy fiction," who are all those boys with breasts who keep turning up by the hundreds at my signings and readings?
and
(2) thank you, geek girls! I love you all. -- George R R Martin
His sufferings were nothing compared to their own, but that did not make him hurt any less. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, they cannot hurt you -- George R R Martin
In the deep sands a man must hoard his water. -- George R R Martin
You would abandon Tommen." "Tommen has his mother." Ser Kevan's green eyes met her own, unblinking. A last drop of wine trembled wet and red beneath his chin, and finally fell. "Aye," he added softly, after a pause, "and his father too, I think. -- George R R Martin
Chiggen grinned, showing yellow teeth, and swallowed the raw meat in two bites. "Tastes well bred." "Better if you fry it up with onions," Bronn put in. -- George R R Martin
Boys believe nothing can harm them, his doubt whispered. Grown men know better. -- George R R Martin
The books will still be here when we return."
"If we return ... -- George R R Martin
Time slept when swords woke. -- George R R Martin
Expected. Lord Tywin did not suffer disloyalty in his vassals. He had extinguished the proud Reynes of Castamere and the ancient Tarbecks of Tarbeck Hall root and branch when he was still half a boy. The singers had even made a rather gloomy song of it. -- George R R Martin
I do so hope he plays us 'The Rains of Castamere.' It has been an hour. I've forgotten how it goes. -- George R R Martin
I like simple things well-done and have no time to philosophize. -- George R R Martin
It was these calamities that transformed my people into slavers, Galazza Galare had told her, at the Temple of the Graces. And I am the calamity that will change these slavers back into people, Dany had sworn to herself. -- George R R Martin
It was too wet to see the sun go down, too grey to see the moon come up. -- George R R Martin
A culture with cats is richer and more humane than one deprived of their unique companionship. -- George R R Martin
You are grown so very great now, yet the higher a man climbs the farther he has to fall. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion felt a pang of rage. "You fucking son of a pox-ridden ass," he spat. "I hope you die of a bloody flux. -- George R R Martin
Lonely and lovely and lethal, Jon Snow reflected, and I might have had her. Her, and Winterfell, and my lord father's name. Instead he had chosen a black cloak and a wall of ice. Instead he had chosen honor. A bastard's sort of honor. -- George R R Martin
I'll spend my first year on the Wall emptying chamber pots if I keep Uncle Ben waiting any longer. -- George R R Martin
Under the sea, the merman feast on starfish soup and all the serving men are crabs. -- George R R Martin
Men are born to strive and suffer. Our woes only vanish when we die. -- George R R Martin
Jaime," she said, tugging on his ear, "sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna's breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there's some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak ... but Tyrion is Tywin's son, not you. -- George R R Martin
He that does not die in truth cannot hope to rise from death. -- George R R Martin
Fierce as a wolverine, calm as still water. -- George R R Martin
And kitchens and roust out everyone you find. Malo, do the same with the maester's tower and the armory. Ser Brendel, the stables, sept, and barracks. Bring them out into the yard, and try not to kill anyone -- George R R Martin
How do you fight someone if you can't hit them? -- George R R Martin
There are worse things than dying with a song on your lips. -- George R R Martin
A dozen great fires raged under the city walls, where casks of burning pitch had exploded, but the wildfire reduced them to no more than candles in a burning house, their orange and scarlet pennons fluttering insignificantly against the jade holocaust. -- George R R Martin
He is not my father. The thought leapt unbidden to Jon's mind. Lord Eddard Stark is my father. I will not forget him, no matter how many swords they give me. Yet he could scarcely tell Lord Mormont that it was another man's sword he dreamt of ... -- George R R Martin
You don't want to wake the dragon, do you? -- George R R Martin
The air smelled of salt and frying fish, of hot tar and honey, of incense and oil and sperm. -- George R R Martin
The giants called us woh dak nag gran, the squirrel people, -- George R R Martin
Your father is fearless," Catelyn pointed out. "He is brave, but that is very different. -- George R R Martin
What the King dreams, the Hand builds. -- George R R Martin
I would choose freedom over comfort every time. -- George R R Martin
That is a sexist and, if I may dare say so, ungallant slander upon the fair sex, and I am astonished to hear it coming from your mouth. -- George R R Martin
Septon Cellador spoke up. "This boy Satin. It's said you mean to make him your steward and squire, in Tollett's place. My lord, the boy's a whore ... a ... dare I say ... a painted catamite from the brothels of Oldtown." And -- George R R Martin
Dolorous Edd Tollett gave a sigh. When I was a lad, we only ate mice on special feast days. I was the youngest, so I always got the tail. There's no meat on the tail. -- George R R Martin
He can't be a baby forever. He's a Stark, and near four." Robb sighed. "Well, Mother will be home soon. And I'll bring back Father, I promise. -- George R R Martin
Sam loved to listen to music and make his own songs, to wear soft velvets, to play in the castle kitchen beside the cooks, drinking in the rich smells as he snitched lemon cakes and blueberry tarts. His passions were books and kittens and dancing, clumsy as he was. -- George R R Martin
A small spoon of victory is just the thing to settle the stomach before battle, Ser Imry had declared happily. -- George R R Martin
As a writer, my goal, (which I'm never going to achieve, and I know that, and no writer can achieve that,) but my goal is to make you almost live the books ... I want you to fall through that page and feel as if these things are happening to you. -- George R R Martin
Some men want whores on the eve of battle, and some want gods. Jon wondered who felt better afterward. -- George R R Martin
Talking gargoyles and prophecies in the sky. I am an old done man, grown giddy as a child again. -- George R R Martin
For all her Targaryen blood, Dany had not the least idea of how to train a dragon. -- George R R Martin
Without honor, a knight is no more than a common killer. It is better to die with honor than to live without it. -- George R R Martin
The drawbridge was up and the portcullis down, -- George R R Martin
Let his sword break and his shield shatter, Sansa thought coldly as she shoved out through the doors, let his courage fail him and every man desert him. -- George R R Martin
Bloodraven is the root of all our woes, the white worm gnawimg at the heart of the realm. -- George R R Martin
Dany kissed him lightly on the cheek. It heartened her to see him smile. I must be strong for him as well, she thought grimly. A knight he may be, but I am the blood of the dragon. -- George R R Martin
I've been killing characters my entire career, maybe I'm just a bloody minded bastard, I don't know, [but] when my characters are in danger, I want you to be afraid to turn the page (and to do that) you need to show right from the beginning that you're playing for keeps. -- George R R Martin
How can I lose something I have never owned? -- George R R Martin
Dreams and prophecies. Why must they always be in riddles? I hate this. -- George R R Martin
No wall can keep you safe," his father told him once, as they walked the walls of Winterfall. "A wall is only as strong as the men who defend it. -- George R R Martin
Maybe you have billions of dollars and my Hugo, but you don't have readers like these. -- George R R Martin
Schemes are like fruit, they require a certain ripening. -- George R R Martin
If only you could take that final step, you'd see farther than ll the rest. You'd be alone with nothing but blue sky above you. -- George R R Martin
No man can say with certainty what the future may hold. But perhaps, in knowing what has already transpired, we can all do our part to avoid the mistakes of our forebears, to emulate their successes, and to create a world more harmonious for our children and their children, for generations to come. -- George R R Martin
I need to sleep, but fear to dream. -- George R R Martin
And here's another order. From this day forth, you will not call yourself a craven. You've faced more things this past year than most men face in a lifetime. -- George R R Martin
Harsh justice is still justice. -- George R R Martin
The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid. -- George R R Martin
A hound will die for you, but never lie to you. And he'll look you straight in the face. -- George R R Martin
Sansa felt as though she were in a dream. "Joffrey is dead," she told the trees, to see if that would wake her. He had not been dead when she left the throne room. He had been on his knees, though, clawing at his throat, tearing at his own skin as he fought to breathe. The -- George R R Martin
Begging for help never gets you any. -- George R R Martin
The night is dark and full of turnips, -- George R R Martin
A bear! A bear! All black and brown and covered in hair! -- George R R Martin
I'd be anonymous. That's what I'd do differently. -- George R R Martin
I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow. -- George R R Martin
Give me priests who are fat and corrupt and cynical,( ... ) the sort who like to sit on soft satin cushions, nibble sweetmeats, and diddle little boys. It's the ones who believe in gods who make the trouble. (Tyrion) -- George R R Martin
It's not what we do, so much as why we do it. -- George R R Martin
Jaime had decided that he would return Sansa, and the younger girl as well if she could be found. It was not like to win him back his honor, but the notion of keeping faith when they all expected betrayal amused him more than he could say. -- George R R Martin
If it's softer than the ground and has a roof over it, I call it a bed. Dolorous Edd sniffed the air. I smell dung. -- George R R Martin
When Edd caught sight of the ragged band of wildlings, he pursed his lips and gave the giant a long look. "Might need some butter to slide that one through the tunnel, m'lord. Shall I send someone to the larder?" "Oh, I think he'll fit. Unbuttered." So -- George R R Martin
There are some examples of medieval kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings. -- George R R Martin
He who hurries through life hurries to his grave. -- George R R Martin
Ride with them, eat with them, fight with them, for as long as it takes. -- George R R Martin
Why?" he asked Pate. "What am I to them?"
"A knight who remembered his vows," the smith said. -- George R R Martin
Her father said there was no shame in being afraid, only in showing your fear. "All men live with fear," he said. -- George R R Martin
I do solemnly proclaim Tyrion of House Lannister and Sansa of House Stark to be man and wife, one flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever, and cursed be the one who comes between them. -- George R R Martin
What was he now? Only Bran the broken boy, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins. -- George R R Martin
And are you a god, to decide who should live and who should die? -- George R R Martin
Watch over my brother, you bloody bastard, he's one of yours.
Tyrion praying to the Warrior -- George R R Martin
Khal Drogo has a thousand horses, tonight he looks for a different sort of mount. -- George R R Martin
What fire joins none man can put aside, -- George R R Martin
You must put these dreams aside, they will only break your heart. -- George R R Martin
Trust is earned. Like gold. -- George R R Martin
Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word. -- George R R Martin
Searching is not finding. -- George R R Martin
Fire and Blood were the words of House Targaryen, but Dunk once heard Ser Arlan say that Aegon's should have been Wash Her and Bring Her to My Bed. -- George R R Martin
His body was so skeletal and his clothes so rotted that at first Bran took him for another corpse, a dead man propped up so long that the roots had grown over him, under him, and through him. What skin the corpse lord showed was white, save for a bloody blotch that crept up his neck onto his cheek. -- George R R Martin
Around them peddlers were selling dog sausages, roast onions, and unborn puppies on a stick, but Dany had no need of such. -- George R R Martin
Give me your word that you'll tell the queen what she wants to hear when she comes calling." "If I did, my word would be as hollow as an empty suit of armor. My life is not so precious to me as that. -- George R R Martin
Ser Barristan Selmy raised his pale blue from the table and said, 'Your Grace, ther is honor in facing an enemy on the battlefield, but none in killing him in his mother's womb. Forgive me, but I must stannd with Lord Eddard. -- George R R Martin
As useless as nipples on a breastplate
-Cersei Lannister -- George R R Martin
Laughter is poison to fear. I -- George R R Martin
If you share your pans with no one, no one can betray you. -- George R R Martin
I knew a man once who told me that I smiled at the wrong things." "Do you? "Only by the light of those who smile at nothing. -- George R R Martin
My gentle sister seems to have mistaken me for Ned Stark."
"I hear he was taller."
"Not after Joff took off his head. -- George R R Martin
Men love to complain about their wives and lords. Those without wives complain twice as much about their lords. -- George R R Martin
Her son upon his throne. When the lion falls the lesser beasts move in: the jackals and the -- George R R Martin
Titles can be as dangerous as names, -- George R R Martin
She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher. -- George R R Martin
The mountain is your mother," Stonesnake had told him during an easier climb a few days past. "Cling to her, press yourself against her teats, and she won't drop you. -- George R R Martin
A Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is deemed a dull affair," he had said. -- George R R Martin
I don't ever want t' leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever -- George R R Martin
Half of them loved her like a daughter, and other half wanted to spread her legs, but either sort would die for her. -- George R R Martin
Use that ugly thing you keep inside your helm. -- George R R Martin
You disappoint me, Arianne.
Said the crow to the raven. You have been disappointing me for years, Father. -- George R R Martin
We mean are so weak. Our bodies betray even the noblest of us. - Ser Arys -- George R R Martin
We know truth for the cruel instrument it is. Beauty is infinitely preferable to truth. -- George R R Martin
All that winter the crannogman stayed on the isle, but when the spring broke he heard the wide world calling and knew the time had come to leave. -- George R R Martin
You are the queen, he ought to be begging leave of you. -- George R R Martin
Never do what they expect, -- George R R Martin
He was born in grief, my queen, and that shadow hung over him all his days. -- George R R Martin
He has hands like two white spiders. -- George R R Martin
I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read. -- George R R Martin
Of course it's not enough to be a good man to be an effective ruler and it never has been. -- George R R Martin
The gods make japes of all our hopes and plans. -- George R R Martin
Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less. -- George R R Martin
I dreamed of you and a dead dragon, Egg's brother Daeron said to him. A great beast, huge, with wings so large they could cover this meadow. It had fallen on top of you, but you were alive and the dragon was dead.
And so he was, poor Baelor. Dreams were a treacherous ground on which to build. -- George R R Martin
Jon shrugged. 'Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister. -- George R R Martin
I am not questioning your honor, I am denying its existence. -- George R R Martin
Fiction is lies; we're writing about people who never existed and events that never happened when we write fiction, whether its science fiction or fantasy or western mystery stories or so-called literary stories. All those things are essentially untrue. But it has to have a truth at the core of it. -- George R R Martin
When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say. -- George R R Martin
For there are other times when I think that I have always been here, that I was born here some endless age ago. And the memories are all false ones, sent to make me hurt the more. -- George R R Martin
A man who sees nothing has no use for his eyes," the Mountain declared. "Cut them out and give them to your next outrider. Tell him you hope that four eyes might see better than two ... and if not, the man after him will have six. -- George R R Martin
He drew the dagger and laid it on the table between them; a length of dragonbone and Valyrian steel, as sharp as the difference between right and wrong, between true and false, between life and death. -- George R R Martin
When it comes to swords, a queen is only a woman after all. -- George R R Martin
heavy bonecrushing armor-smashing blades. -- George R R Martin
I make common cause with no one," Stannis Baratheon said. -- George R R Martin
Stannis Baratheon with a grievance was like a mastiff with a bone; he gnawed it down to splinters. -- George R R Martin
Few of the birds that Aemon had sent off had returned as yet. One reached Stannis, though. One found Dragonstone, and a king who still cared. -- George R R Martin
Destriers began to perish of exhaustion and exposure. "What is a knight without a horse?" men riddled. "A snowman with a sword. -- George R R Martin
I believe in steel swords, gold coins, and man's wits. ( ... ) And I believe there once were dragons. I've seen their skulls, after all. -- George R R Martin
Varys, the only thing I value less than my life just now is yours. -- George R R Martin
Men are men." Whitebeard replied. "Dragons are dragons." Ser Jorah snorted his disdain. "How profund -- George R R Martin
Moreo said. He bowed and took his leave of them. -- George R R Martin
Fall is falling fast enough, there's no need to help it. -- George R R Martin
Yunkai'i tend theirs. It was not that Dany harbored -- George R R Martin
Shaga: How would you like to die, little man?
Tyrion: In my bed, at the age of eighty with a belly full of wine and a woman's mouth around my cock. -- George R R Martin
Honor set you on the kingsroad ... and honor brought you back. -- George R R Martin
A crown should not sit easy on the head. -- George R R Martin
The best lies contain within them nuggets of truth, enough to give a listener pause. -- George R R Martin
No man is accursed as the kinslayer. -- George R R Martin
A man can own a woman or a man can own a knife, but no man can own both. Every little girl learns that from her mother. -- George R R Martin
Black moleskin gloves covered his hands; the right because it was burned, the left because a man felt half a fool wearing only one glove. -- George R R Martin
never told it to you?" Bran shook his head. -- George R R Martin
And when you've known me longer, you'll learn that I mean everything I say." "Even the lies?" "Especially the lies. -- George R R Martin
A long time ago, she remembered her father saying that when the cold winds blow the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.
He had it all backwards.
Arya the lone wolf, still lives, but the wolves of the pack had been taken and slain and skinned. -- George R R Martin
Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written. -- George R R Martin
Dawn. Another day is given us, R'hllor be praised. -- George R R Martin
a few of them even looked like soldiers. In a bad light. If you squint. -- George R R Martin
His hold on her arm. There were deep red marks on her skin. "Gods," he whispered. His voice was hoarse. "Your sister is sick with grief. She cannot know what she is saying. -- George R R Martin
You want people to be eager for your book; the downside is when the people forget the series even exists. -- George R R Martin
Good and evil are silly lies, nonsense put forth to plague honest sensible men. -- George R R Martin
Stone eyes are blind eyes. -- George R R Martin
Why use a spell, where mummer's tricks will serve? -- George R R Martin
His smile was apologetic. I did warn you not to trust me, you know. -- George R R Martin
Words are just wind. -- George R R Martin
Misery loves company, as someone unbearably trite said once. -- George R R Martin
While tearing apart a bird with fat fingers, -- George R R Martin
Sometimes it seemed as though he'd thumped his head on half the doors in Westeros, not to mention every beam in every inn from Dorne up to the Neck. -- George R R Martin
It is hard to take orders from a man you laughed at in your cups, -- George R R Martin
You make us look bad', complained Toad.
'You looked bad before I ever met you', Jon told him. -- George R R Martin
History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again. -- George R R Martin
The great thing about reading is that it broadens your life -- George R R Martin
Weese," she would whisper, first of all. "Dunsen, Chiswyck, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Gregor, Ser Armory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei." - Arya Stark, A Clash of Kings -- George R R Martin
Laughter is poison to fear. (Catelyn Stark) -- George R R Martin
What is the song of ice and fire?" "It's no song I've ever heard. -- George R R Martin
Arya did not dare [take a bath], even though she smelled as bad as Yoren by now, all sour and stinky. Some of the creatures living in her clothes had come all the way from Flea Bottom with her; it didn't seem right to drown them. -- George R R Martin
By what right does the wolf judge the lion? -- George R R Martin
A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid. - Tyrion -- George R R Martin
Noseless and Handless, the Lannister Boys. -- George R R Martin
As well ask what good is life, what good is death? If the day comes when you would find me again, give that coin to any man from Braavos, and say these words to him - valar morghulis. -- George R R Martin
You know nothing, Jon Snow. -- George R R Martin
That's no law, just a sword. Happens I got one too. -- George R R Martin
Valar morghulis.
Yes. All men must die, but we are not men. -- George R R Martin
And all was black and still, and black and cold, and black and dead, and black. -- George R R Martin
Jaime smiled knowingly. Men will read all sorts of things into a knowing smile if you let them. -- George R R Martin
I wonder what the High Septon would have to say about the sanctity of oaths sworn while dead drunk, chained to a wall, with a sword pressed to your chest? -- George R R Martin
Swift as a deer. Quiet as a shadow. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Quick as a snake. Calm as still water. -- George R R Martin
His dagger was out, poised at her throat. Sing, little bird. Sing for your little life. -- George R R Martin
Will you make a song for him?' the woman asked.
'He has a song,' the man replied. 'He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire. -- George R R Martin
Once you've accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you. -- George R R Martin
You mistake patience for forbearance. -- George R R Martin
That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead. -- George R R Martin
You are the blood of the dragon. You can make a hat. -- George R R Martin
You each name yourself king, yet the kingdom bleeds and no one lefts a sword to defend it but my son. -- George R R Martin
What do you like to do?"
She scuffed a toe amongst the rushes. "Needlework."
"Very restful, isn't it?"
"Well," said Arya, "not the way I do it. -- George R R Martin
No man should live longer than his teeth. -- George R R Martin
Reading books again? Books will ruin your sword eye, boy. -- George R R Martin
The tree had been dead a long time, but it
seemed to live again in the fire -- George R R Martin
In those days, the smell of leather and blood had clung to him like perfume. Now it was perfume that clung to him like perfume, -- George R R Martin
The snow fell steadily, cloaking all the world in white. -- George R R Martin
Under the sea the crows are white as snow, I know, I know, oh, oh, oh. -- George R R Martin
The snow will cover me like a thick white blanket. It will be warm under the snow, and if they speak of me they'll have to say I died a man of the NIght Watch. I did. I did. I did my duty. No one can say I foreswore myself I'm fat and I'm weak and I'm craven, but I did my duty. -- George R R Martin
Ser used to call me Shitmouth, if it please m'lord. -- George R R Martin
There is always someone quicker and stronger, Ser Rodrik had once told Jon and Robb. He's the man you want to face in the yard before you need to face his like upon a battlefield. -- George R R Martin
I had feared it from the start, from the moment you first smiled at me and let me touch your hand. My own father could not love me. Why would you if not for gold? -- George R R Martin
Never refuse a cup of wine or a horn of ale," Ser Arlan had once told him, "it may be a year before you see another. -- George R R Martin
A man may prefer the taste of hippocras, yet if you set a tankard of ale before him, he will quaff it quick enough. -- George R R Martin
Brusco had a bad back, and could not lift anything heavier than a tankard of brown ale. -- George R R Martin
Renly thought she was absurd. A woman dressed in man's mail, pretending to be a knight." "If he'd ever seen her in pink satin and Myrish lace, he would not have complained. -- George R R Martin
It was the end of the world.
And we are going beyond it. -- George R R Martin
Small men curse what they cannot understand. -- George R R Martin
It all goes back and back," Tyrion thought, "to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our steads. -- George R R Martin
You are quick, for a dancing master, said Ser Meryn. You are slow, for a knight, Syrio replied. -- George R R Martin
A bag of dragons buys a man's silence for a while, but a well-placed quarrel buys it forever. -- George R R Martin
She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell. -- George R R Martin
Kind? How boring that would be. I aspire to be wicked. -- George R R Martin
He is no true knight, but he saved me all the same," she told the mother. "Save him if you can, and gentle the rage inside him -Sansa -- George R R Martin
Swords are no good against the ironmen, unless the men who wield them know how to walk on water. -- George R R Martin
Every once in a very long while, Lord Tywin Lannister would actually threaten to smile; he never did, but the threat alone was terrible to behold. -- George R R Martin
Why would the stars want to look down on such as me? -- George R R Martin
And I know that a king protects his people, or he is no king at all. -- George R R Martin
The choice is yours, brother. Live a thrall or die a king. Do you dare to fly? Unless you take the leap, you'll never know. - Euron Greyjoy -- George R R Martin
The dwarf, the evil counselor, the twisted little monkey demon. I'm all that stands between them and chaos. -- George R R Martin
The titles are born, worn, discarded, forgotten, and none of them matter. -- George R R Martin
That was either very wise or very stupid, she was not sure which. -- George R R Martin
I'm sorry that I never trusted you. I don't know how to do that anymore. -- George R R Martin
The watcher on the walls. The sword in the darkness. -- George R R Martin
Do dead man dream?
The dead themselves are silent on the matter -- George R R Martin
You lie," he said. "All men lie when they are afraid. Some tell many lies, some but a few. Some have only one great lie they tell so often that they almost come to believe it ... though some small part of them will always know that it is still a lie, and that will show upon their faces. -- George R R Martin
We should start back," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. "The wildlings are dead." "Do the dead frighten you?" Ser Waymar Royce asked with just the hint of a smile. -- George R R Martin
Ned always said that the man who passes the sentence should swing the blade, though he never took any joy in the duty. But I would, oh, yes. -- George R R Martin
Queen you shall be, until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear. -- George R R Martin
Davos had often heard it said that the wizards of Valyria did not cut and chisel as common masons did, but worked stone with fire and magic as a potter might work clay. -- George R R Martin
There is a tool for every task, and a task for every tool. -- George R R Martin
Another name? Oh, certainly. And when the Faceless Men come to kill me, I'll say, 'No, you have the wrong man, I'm a different dwarf with a hideous facial scar.' Both Lannisters laughed at the absurdity of it all. (Tyrion Lannister) -- George R R Martin
A sword sword owes his lord the truth. -- George R R Martin
A bloody sword is a beautiful thing. -- George R R Martin
It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace." He gave a shrug. "They never are." Dany -- George R R Martin
Where were the gods then? The gods don't care about men, no more than kings care
about peasants. -- George R R Martin
Her name is Brienne," Jaime said. "Brienne, the maid of Tarth. You are still maiden, I hope?"
Her broad homely face turned red. "Yes."
"Oh, good," Jaime said. "I only rescue maidens. -- George R R Martin
One day the singers will make all of us immortal. -- George R R Martin
Robb, listen to me. Once you have eaten of his bread and salt, you have the guest right, and the laws of hospitality protect you beneath his roof. -- George R R Martin
The show is good, but the books are better.
(The books are always better) -- George R R Martin
There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs. -- George R R Martin
One foe at a time, that was what the old man always said. -- George R R Martin
Sam handed back the sword. "When I try to swat a bug, it always flies away. All I do is slap my arm. It stings." That made Jon laugh. -- George R R Martin
Not as your judge. As your champion. -- George R R Martin
Shagga, cut off his manhood and feed it to the goats." Shagga hefted the huge double-bladed axe. "There are no goats, Halfman." "Make do. -- George R R Martin
Worms have crawled up your nose and eaten your wits. -- George R R Martin
Rebellion makes for queer bedfellows. And none more queer than this fat man and me, -- George R R Martin
The ship groaned and growled beneath him like a constipated fat man straining to shit. -- George R R Martin
No, don't blush, with your hair it makes you look like a pomegranate. -- George R R Martin
Jon heard the deep, throaty call of the watchman's great horn, calling out across the miles; a single long blast that shuddered through the trees and echoed off the ice. UUUUUUUoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. -- George R R Martin
Sex is sharing, you see, and it's good to share with everyone. But the sharing has to be real and meaningful. That creates problems. -- George R R Martin
Craster is his own man. He has sworn us no vows. Nor is he subject to our laws. Your heart is noble, Jon, but learn a lesson here. We cannot set the world to rights. That is not our purpose. The Night's Watch has other wars to fight. -- George R R Martin
Calm as still water, -- George R R Martin
Words are winds. -- George R R Martin
The best lies are seasoned with a bit of truth, -- George R R Martin
'Dreamsongs' allows me to show the scope of my writing - with personal commentary that puts the works in context and includes some autobiographical details intended to reveal how each piece came to be, what it represents, and how it has formed, or been informed by, my philosophy of writing. -- George R R Martin
When I don't fancy a man's eyes, I put an arrow through one. -- George R R Martin
A young girl she might be, but Daenerys Targaryen was the only thing that held them all together. -- George R R Martin
Joffrey received loving kisses from the bride's father and his two new brothers, Loras and Garlan. No one seemed in any great rush to kiss Tyrion. When the king and queen had taken their seats, the High Septon rose to lead a prayer. -- George R R Martin
In a world so full of treachery, that was worth a few kisses. -- George R R Martin
And the people ... there is no end of them. I sit on that damnable iron chair and listen to them complain until my mind is numb and my ass is raw. They all want something, money or land or justice. The lies they tell ... -- George R R Martin
Drinkwater had a swagger to him, a confidence bordering on arrogance. He never seemed ill at ease, and even when he did not speak the language, he had ways of making himself understood. -- George R R Martin
We must declare this Snow a traitor and a rebel," agreed Ser Harys Swyft. "The black brothers must remove him." Grand Maester Pycelle nodded ponderously. "I propose that we inform Castle Black that no more men will be sent to them until such time as Snow is gone. -- George R R Martin
It is every man's duty to remain loyal to his rightful King, even if the lord he serves proves false. -- George R R Martin
What he works at makes no matter. What matters is, he works. The Father rules, the Warrior fights, the Smith labors, and together they perform all that is rightful for a man. -- George R R Martin
You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the North. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you. -- George R R Martin
Did you teach him wisdom as well as valor, Ned! She wondered. Did you teach him how to
Kneel! The grave yards of the Seven Kinfdoms are full of brave men who had never learned that lesson.
Cat. -- George R R Martin
Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field. -- George R R Martin
To Winterfell we pledge the faith of Greywater, -- George R R Martin
And when I told you the tale o' Bael the Bard and how he plucked the rose o' Winterfell, I thought you'd know to pluck me then for certain, but you didn't. You know nothing, Jon Snow. -- George R R Martin
He was a Stark of Winterfell, and who can say? Mayhaps his name was Brandon. Mayhaps he slept in this very bed in this very room -- George R R Martin
The Lord of Winterfell would always be a Stark -- George R R Martin
Abed, the walls pressed close and the ceiling hung heavy above him; abed, the room was his cell and Winterfell his prison. Yet outside his windows, the wide world still called. - Bran -- George R R Martin
Even now, he was a Stark of Winterfell, and his grief and his rage froze hard inside him. -- George R R Martin
There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. -- George R R Martin
I'm not him, I'm not the turncloak, he died at Winterfell. My name is Reek, It rhymes with freak -- George R R Martin
Ser Jaime ... I am grateful, but ... you were well away. Why come back?" A dozen quips came to mind, each crueler than the one before, but Jaime only shrugged. "I dreamed of you -- George R R Martin
I dreamed of you. -- George R R Martin
But Jon found himself shivering. The chill was always with him here. In a few years, he would forget what it felt like to be warm. -- George R R Martin
Jinglebell jingled his bell -- George R R Martin
You wear your honor like a suit of armor ... You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move. -- George R R Martin
They'll kill for that knighthood, but don't ever think they'll die for it. -- George R R Martin
The rain feels good against my face, Sam. It feels like tears. Let me stay a while longer, I pray you. It has been a long time since last I wept. -- George R R Martin
Friendly had never liked to rock boats unnecessarily. That's how people end up drowned. -- George R R Martin
Jaime gave her [Brienne] a hard smile. "See, wench? We know each other too well. -- George R R Martin
The distinction between literary and genre fiction is stupid and pernicious. It dates back to a feud between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James. James won, and it split literature into two streams. But it's a totally false dichotomy. -- George R R Martin
Better the butcher than the meat. -- George R R Martin
A storm caught them on the way. The fisherman drowned, but his daughter got Stark to the Sisters before the boat went down. They say he left her with a bag of silver and a bastard in her belly. Jon Snow, she named him, after Arryn. -- George R R Martin
The Yunkai's hold the center themselves, Dany noted. -- George R R Martin
You kill men for the wrongs they have done, not the wrongs that they may do someday. -- George R R Martin
I have the virtue of being still amongst the living. Some would say that is my only virtue. -- George R R Martin
The battle proved a victory - at least in part - and soon after, his grandfather finally died, and Ser Elmo became Lord of Riverrun. But he did not long enjoy his station; he died on the march forty-nine days later, leaving his young son, Ser Kermit, to succeed him. -- George R R Martin
Every mummer needs a dancing bear. -- George R R Martin
An empire built on blood and fire. The Valyrians reaped the seed they had sown. -- George R R Martin
Some capers you have to pull, whether you want to or not. -- George R R Martin
Tell me who's won and I'll tell you what it means. -- George R R Martin
He was a pitiful thing. He had always been a pitiful thing. Why had she never seen that before? There was a hollow place inside her where her fear had been. -- George R R Martin
The man who fears losing has already lost. -- George R R Martin
At night Tyrion would oft hear her praying. A waste of words. If there are gods to listen, they are monstrous gods who torment us for their sport. Who else would make a world like this, so full of bondage, blood, and pain? -- George R R Martin
He wondered how many lives had been snuffed out by that fart. -- George R R Martin
All around, the sea was full of ships. Some were burning, some were sinking, some had been smashed to splinters. -- George R R Martin
Not everyone who spoke you friendly was really your friend. - Arya -- George R R Martin
We all know what a big giant sword you have, I'm sure. No need for you to wave it in our faces yet again. -- George R R Martin
One voyage to the East and a man could live as rich as a lord until the end of his days. When he'd been younger, Davos had dreamed of making such voyages himself. But the years went dancing by like moths around a flame, and somehow the time had never been quite right. -- George R R Martin
He watched them from a distance, as if he still sat in the window of his bedchamber, looking down on the yard below, seeing everything yet a part of nothing." - Bran -- George R R Martin
Catelyn had never been so glad to see the twin tower badge of House Frey. -- George R R Martin
Nor was he Aemon Targaryen. Three times the old man had chosen, and three times he had chosen honor, but that was him. Even now, Jon could not decide whether the maester had stayed because he was weak and craven, or because he was strong and true. -- George R R Martin
What do we say to the Lord of Death?'
'Not today. -- George R R Martin
I've written some standalone novels, but a book series allows fans in. There's much more intense involvement. -- George R R Martin
To wed his eldest daughter, Calla, to Aegor. Bitter his steel may have been, but worse was his tongue. He spilled poison in Daemon's ear, and with him came the clamoring of other knights and lords with grievances. -- George R R Martin
Morality is a closely knit garment that binds tightly when it binds at all, but the vastnesses that lie between the stars are prone to unraveling it, to plucking it apart into so many loose threads, each brightly colored, but forming no discernible pattern. -- George R R Martin
The gods are blind. And men see only what they wish. -- George R R Martin
Ser Cleos looked like a weasel, fought like a goose, and had the courage of an especially brave ewe. -- George R R Martin
Night's Watch takes no part, so no man's our enemy."
"And no man's our friend, she thought. -- George R R Martin
In King's Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the pieces ... Every man's a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players.
Petyr Baelish -- George R R Martin
My enemies are everywhere, and my friends are fools. -- George R R Martin
Nothing knits a broken realm together so quick as an invading army on its soil. -- George R R Martin
I will not deny that Bael's exploit inspired mine own ... but I did not steal either of your sisters that I recall. Bael wrote his own songs, and lived them. I only sing the songs that better men have made. -- George R R Martin
He'd only taken the black after he'd lost an arm at the siege of Storm's End. -- George R R Martin
Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you. -- George R R Martin
Crabs feast on your flesh. You've feasted on enough of them, you -- George R R Martin
A bit of a fool, you might say, but all dreamers are fools. -- George R R Martin
I have files, I have computer files and, you know, files on paper. But most of it is really in my head. So God help me if anything ever happens to my head! -- George R R Martin
And Arya, well ... Ned's visitors would oft mistake her for a stableboy if they rode into the yard unannounced. Arya was a trial, it must be
said. Half a boy and half a wolf pup. -- George R R Martin
In the darkness all the gods were strangers. -- George R R Martin
The septons were always going on about how the Father Above judges us all. If the Father would be so good as to topple over and crush Joff like a dung beetle, I might even believe it. -- George R R Martin
Instead he fanned the fire. When the blaze was all acrackle, he peeled off his stiff gloves to warm his hands, and sighed, wondering if ever a kiss had felt as good. The warmth spread through his fingers like melting butter. -- George R R Martin
I think life is a jape. Yours, mine, everyone's -- George R R Martin
The weight of armor and shield will tire even the strongest man. -- George R R Martin
The Wall can stop an army, but not a man alone. -- George R R Martin
A broken sword can be reforged. A broken sword can kill. -- George R R Martin
Four whores were seated near the door, drinking. -- George R R Martin
Wars are won with quills and ravens, wasn't that what you said? -- George R R Martin
Two hearts that beat as one. -- George R R Martin
Jon, could there be honor in a lie, if it were told for a ... good purpose? - Samwell -- George R R Martin
That was his mistake, the false humility of youth that is itself a sort of pride. -- George R R Martin
Stones eyes are blind eyes. -- George R R Martin
Why should you want to help him?" "Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things." Tyrion Lannister placed a hand over his heart and grinned. The -- George R R Martin
Then armor yourself in faith, by all means, but wear a suit of mail and plate as well. -- George R R Martin
The gods made our bodies as well as our souls, is it not so? They give us voices, so we might worship them with song. They give us hands, so we might build them temples. And they give us desire, so we might mate and worship them in that way. -- George R R Martin
Knowledge is a Weapon, Jon. Arm yourself well before you ride forth to Battle. -- George R R Martin
From this point you must pay your own way, and the cost is dear. -- George R R Martin
Savage Sam Tarly, whose sword, Heartsbane, was said to be red from hilt to point after the dozens of Dornishmen he cut down in the course of the Vulture Hunt, as the chase after the Vulture King became known. -- George R R Martin
Those pissing contests are how lords judge one another's strength, and woe to any man who shows his weakness. A woman must needs piss twice as hard, if she hopes to rule. And -- George R R Martin
I am still half a world from Westeros, Dany reminded herself, but every hour brings me closer. She tried to imagine what it would feel like, when she first caught sight of the land she was born to rule. It will be as fair a shore as I have ever seen, I know it. How could it be otherwise? -- George R R Martin
When Torgon Greyiron returned at last to the Iron Islands, he declared the -- George R R Martin
In the end a gentle heart may be worth more than pride or valor. -- George R R Martin
Mother said," mocked the king. "Don't be childish."
"We're children," Myrcella declared haughtily. "We're supposed to be childish."
The Hound laughed. "She has you there. -- George R R Martin
What a man can do and what a man will do are two different things. -- George R R Martin
Tall and fair, with blue-green eyes, sandy hair streaked by the sun, and a lean and comely body, Gerris Drinkwater had a swagger to him, a confidence bordering on arrogance. -- George R R Martin
Gold has its uses, but war is won with iron. -- George R R Martin
She had surrendered her virtue at six-and-ten, to a beautiful blond-haired sailor on a trading galley up from Lys. He only knew six words of the Common Tongue, but "fuck" was one of them - the very word she'd hoped to hear. -- George R R Martin
Do trees dream?" "Trees? No . . ." "They do," Bran said with sudden certainty. "They dream tree dreams. I dream of a tree sometimes. A weirwood, like the one in the godswood. It calls to me. The wolf dreams are better. I smell things, and sometimes I can taste the blood. -- George R R Martin
A waste. If I'd been ten years younger, I'd have stolen her meself. That hair she had. Well, the hottest fires burn out quickest. He -- George R R Martin
Men live their lives trapped in an eternal present, between the mists of memory and the sea of shadow that is all we know of the days to come. -- George R R Martin
That dragon queen's got the real item, the kind that don't break and run when you fart in their general direction. -- George R R Martin
They were never my pack, not even Hot Pie and Gendry. I was stupid to think so, just a stupid little girl, and no wolf at all. -- George R R Martin
Say that with a sword in your hand, Frey," the small man snarled. "Or do you only fight with smears of shit -- George R R Martin
Why does a bear shit in the woods?" he demanded. "Because it is his nature. Lying comes as easily as breathing to a man -- George R R Martin
Targaryen wed Khal Drogo with -- George R R Martin
A Lannister always pays his debts. -- George R R Martin
Beware the perfumed seneschal. -- George R R Martin
It's a mercy," he said. "He's dead already. -- George R R Martin
The ship was small, his cabin smaller, but the captain would not allow him abovedecks. -- George R R Martin
When the three of them stepped off the ferry on the north bank, a drunken camp follower offered to pleasure Strongboar with her mouth. "Here, pleasure my friend," Ser Lyle said, shoving her toward Ser Ilyn. Laughing, the woman moved to kiss Payne on the lips, then saw his eyes and shrank away. -- George R R Martin
The time to speak of the cold is not when we are standing put in it. -- George R R Martin
There are ghosts everywhere," Ser Jorah said softly. "We carry them with us wherever we go. -- George R R Martin
They had ridden past the end of the world; somehow that changed everything. -- George R R Martin
Queen Jeyne would be safest behind the high, strong walls of Riverrun, with the Blackfish to protect her. Robb had even created him a new title, Warden of the Southern Marches. -- George R R Martin
For the oak recalls the acorn, the acorn dreams the oak, the stump lives in them both. -- George R R Martin
So long as she could kill with a whisper, Arya need not be afraid of anyone ... but once she used up the last death, she would only be a mouse again. -- George R R Martin
Still, beauty can mask deadly danger. -- George R R Martin
You saw what was there." "Just so. Opening your eyes is all that is needing. The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true. Look with your eyes. -- George R R Martin
My head is too large, although I prefer to think it is large enough for my mind. -- George R R Martin
All men must swallow the sour with the sweet. -- George R R Martin
His wits were coming back to him, however slowly. That was good. His wits were all he had. -- George R R Martin
son for Loraq, no heir to unite dragon and harpy. When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, when the seas go dry and mountains blow in the -- George R R Martin
The Marquis de Carabas always had a plan, and he always had a fallback plan; and beneath these plans he always had a real plan, one that he would not even let himself know about, for when the original plan and the fallback plan had both gone south. -- George R R Martin
I'm honest. It's the world that's awful. -- George R R Martin
I heard a Lannister always pays his debts."
"Oh, every penny ... but never a groat more. You'll get the meal you bargained for, but it won't be sauced with gratitude, and in the end it will not nourish you. -- George R R Martin
The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember that. -- George R R Martin
Yet he could scarcely tell Lord Mormont that it was another man's sword he dreamt of ... "I want no courtesies either," Mormont said, -- George R R Martin
Jon Snow: I'm not afraid to die. Mormont: Nor life, I hope. -- George R R Martin
It's not," Mormont told him. "Gods save us, boy, you're not blind and you're not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne? -- George R R Martin
He wants you to smile and smell sweet and be his lady love. He wants to hear you recite all your pretty little words the way the septa taught you. He wants you to love him ... and fear him. -- George R R Martin
The lord of light made the sun and moon and stars to light our day, and gave us fire to keep the night at bay. -- George R R Martin
Jaime, he frowned. There's a cold suspicious look if ever I saw one. That one -- George R R Martin
Mother, I want to see him fly! -- George R R Martin
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, men said, but the enemy of my friend is my enemy. -- George R R Martin
Every touch a lie. I have paid her so much false coin that she half thinks she's rich. -- George R R Martin
Cruel places breed cruel peoples. - Maester Luwin -- George R R Martin
You little fool. Tears are not a woman's only weapon. You've got another one between your legs, and you'd best learn to use it. You'll find men use their swords freely enough. Both kinds of swords. -- George R R Martin
There are gods and there are true knights too. All the stories can't be lies. -- George R R Martin
When I was thirteen, I wed a crofter's daughter. Or so I thought her. I was blind with love for her, and thought she felt the same for me, but my father rubbed my face in the truth. My bride was a whore Jaime had hired to give me my first taste of manhood. -- George R R Martin
That bird is too clever by half. -- George R R Martin
He drank his way across the narrow sea. -- George R R Martin
Terrible times breed terrible things, my lord. -- George R R Martin
Reading books by candlelight will make you blind."
"I need the candlelight to see the words, ser."
"Do you want a clout in the ear? -- George R R Martin
A sword's a sword, a helm's a helm, and if you reach in the fire you get burned, no matter who you're serving. -- George R R Martin
Old Nan used to tell stories about knights and their ladies who would sleep in a single bed with a blade between them for honor's sake, but he thought this must be the first time where a direwolf took the place of the sword. -- George R R Martin
To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow. -- George R R Martin
Noble words, but words were easy. Deeds were hard. - Brienne -- George R R Martin
How could I ever have loved that wretched creature? -- George R R Martin
Then the trees closed in around her, black as pitch and full of ghosts and memories. -- George R R Martin
The kinslayer is accursed in the eyes of gods and men, -- George R R Martin
A man grows weary of having no lovers but his fingers. -- George R R Martin
Foolish woman, will holding it secret in your heart make it any less true? If
you never tell, never speak of it, will it become only a dream, less than a dream, a nightmare half-remembered? -- George R R Martin
I worked out of Hollywood for 10 years and I had my heart broken half a dozen times, so I know all the things that can go wrong. -- George R R Martin
The day you make them all is the day you stop improving. - Alleras -- George R R Martin
You always miss your last shot," said Roone. The apple splashed down into the river, untouched. "See?" said Roone. "The day you make them all is the day you stop improving. -- George R R Martin
I sit on the damn iron seat when I must. Does that mean I don't have the same hungers as other men? A bit of wine now and again, a girl squealing in bed, the feel of a horse between my legs? Seven hells, Ned, I want to hit someone. -- George R R Martin
It please her to think that she made a better king than Robert. -- George R R Martin
The king eats, Robert had said, and the Hand takes the shit. How he had laughed. Yet he had gotten it wrong. The king dies, Ned Stark thought, and the Hand is buried. -- George R R Martin
King Robert is gone. The gods give him rest." "No," Ned answered. "He hated rest. The gods give him love and laughter, and the joy of righteous battle. -- George R R Martin
Drink and stay quiet, the king is talking. -- George R R Martin
I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne, or so dead as now that I've won it. -- George R R Martin
It is no easy thing to slay a dragon, but it can be done. -- George R R Martin
He'd bought a ton of silver to forge magic swords that would slay the Stark wargs. -- George R R Martin
Everyone talks about snows forty foot deep, and how the ice wind comes howling out of the north, but the real enemy is the cold. -- George R R Martin
The blessing was an empty ritual, she knew, but rituals and ceremonies had power in the eyes of the ignorant. -- George R R Martin
If I had me a nice goose quill and a pot o' maester's ink, I could write down that me member was long and thick as me arm, wouldn't make it so. -- George R R Martin
Jon Snow had dreamed of leading men to glory just as King Daeron had, of growing up to be a conqueror. Now he was a man grown and the Wall was his, yet all he had were doubts. He could not even seem to conquer those. -- George R R Martin
I am blood of the dragon, she told herself. I am Daenerys Stormborn, Princess of Dragonstone, of the blood and seed of Aegon the Conqueror. -- George R R Martin
Slynt looked about the solar, at the other Eastwatch men. Does this boy think I fell off a turnip wagon onto my head? -- George R R Martin
Tyrion was unimpressed. "Words are wind. Who is this bloody savior?" "A dragon." The cheesemonger saw the look on his face at that, and laughed. "A dragon with three heads. -- George R R Martin
The young woman went to rummage in a sideboard and came back to the table with a stout cook's knife. But instead of using it to cut the fruit, she showed the point to each of the men in a meaningful way, then tucked the blade into her kirtle. They -- George R R Martin
Yes," Ser Rodrik agreed. "I haven't wanted to die for almost two days now." He bowed to Catelyn. "My lady. -- George R R Martin
Know your foe, Ser Rodrik had taught him once. -- George R R Martin
Anger was better than tears, better than grief, better than guilt. -- George R R Martin
There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, m'lords," he thundered. "The King in the North! -- George R R Martin
Ser Barristan," she called, "I know what quality a king needs most." "Courage, Your Grace?" "Cheeks like iron," she teased. "All I do is sit. -- George R R Martin
Fool's blood, king's blood, blood on the maiden's thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye. -- George R R Martin
The king, the priest, the rich man - who lives and who dies? Who will the swordsman obey? It's a riddle without an answer, or rather, too many answers. -- George R R Martin
A king had best know the names of his enemies, don't you think? -- George R R Martin
A wise king keeps his own counsel, she reminded herself. -- George R R Martin
One King means peace. -- George R R Martin
Sure. Some of the reviews have been very flattering, but the series is not finished yet. The end needs to be as strong as the beginning. -- George R R Martin
I remembered that, so I allowed myself to hope ... perhaps I wanted to ... we all deceive ourselves, when we want to believe. -- George R R Martin
Kings are falling like leaves this autumn. -- George R R Martin
now?" Theon seldom prayed at all, but that was not something you confessed -- George R R Martin
In this world the weak are the victims of the strong. -- George R R Martin
These are northmen, Uncle. The north remembers. -- George R R Martin
One of your northmen hit me with a morningstar during the battle on the Green Fork. I escaped him by falling off my horse. (Tyrion) -- George R R Martin
An awful lot of fantasy, and even some great fantasy, falls into the mistake of assuming that a good man will be a good king, that all that is necessary is to be a decent human being and when you're king everything will go swimmingly. -- George R R Martin
If truth be told, I ofttimes wonder how Stannis ever got that ugly daughter of his. He goes to his marriage bed like a man marching to a battlefield, with a firm look in his eyes and a determination to do his duty. -- George R R Martin
If half an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. A man is good or he is evil. -- George R R Martin
It was never wise for a ruler to eschew the trappings of power, for power itself flows in no small measure from such trappings. -- George R R Martin
We are one. Man, horse, lance, we are one beast of blood and wood and iron. -- George R R Martin
We are walking on a bridge of ice with an abyss on either side. -- George R R Martin
I presume that House Arryn remembers its own words," the Imp said. "As High as Honor. -- George R R Martin
There's always a bear, -- George R R Martin
The Gods give with one hand and take with the other. -- George R R Martin
After the deep, warm nothingness, there was no pleasure in recalling who he was. Without coming fully awake, he nonetheless felt the weight of his own being settling on his heart. Despair and anger and the constant gnawing worry sounded in his mind like a man in the next room clearing his throat. -- George R R Martin
Which king?"
"All of them. The true and the false alike. If they would claim the realm, let them defend it. -- George R R Martin
My mind is my weapon. -- George R R Martin
They said Lord Tywin loved gold most of all; he even shit gold, -- George R R Martin
Choosing ... it has always hurt. And always will. I know. -- George R R Martin
Many good men have been bad kings, Maester Aemon used to say, and some bad men have been good kings. -- George R R Martin
Why do the Gods make kings and queens if not to protect the ones who can't protect themselves? -- George R R Martin
You've got a bold tongue, little man. One day, someone is like to cut it out and make you eat it. -- George R R Martin
It is chivalry that makes a true knight, not a sword. -- George R R Martin
I loved a maid as red as autumn [ ... ] with sunset in her hair. -- George R R Martin
Loves not always wise, I've learned it. It can lead us to great folly, but we follow our hearts ... wherever they take us. -- George R R Martin
Well, the drums gave me headaches, the sunlight flashing on my armor cooked me up like harvest day, and those magnificent destriers shit everywhere. -- George R R Martin
I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid. -- George R R Martin
glutton. When Ami was caught in the stables with no fewer than three -- George R R Martin
It's by the king's decree," the man said. "The strong have always taken from the weak, -- George R R Martin
He was bright as broken glass and sharp enough to cut himself. -- George R R Martin
If ice can burn," said Jojen in his solemn voice, "then love and hate can mate. -- George R R Martin
A commander needs a good battlefield voice, -- George R R Martin
Before you can learn to move you must learn to be still, -- George R R Martin
Jaime watched her eyes. Pretty eyes, he thought, and calm. -- George R R Martin
When the gold was half-melted and starting to run, Drogo reached into the flames, snatched out the pot. "Crown!" he roared. "Here. A crown for Cart King!" And upended the pot over the head of the man who had been her brother. -- George R R Martin
Valar morghulis," said Missandei, in High Valyrian. "All men must die," Dany agreed, -- George R R Martin
Arya slid her dagger out and drew it across his throat, as smooth as summer silk. His blood covered her hands in a hot gush and he tried to shout but there was blood in his mouth as well. "Valar morghulis," she whispered as he died. -- George R R Martin
No Queen has clean hands. -- George R R Martin
In the black of night a man asks all the questions he dare not ask by daylight. -- George R R Martin
Bran spread his arms and flew. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, and the only good wind is that which fills our sails. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, even words like love and peace. I put more trust in deeds. -- George R R Martin
Dreams turn to dust in light of day. -- George R R Martin
The old wounds never heal. -- George R R Martin
It is one thing to train in the yard with a blunted sword in hand, and another to drive a foot of sharpened steel into a man's gut and see light go out of his eyes. -- George R R Martin
She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. -- George R R Martin
Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime's shoulder. When this battle's done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but ... well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return. -- George R R Martin
All writers are readers first, and all of us write the sort of books we want to read. -- George R R Martin
I never wanted to see half the things I've seen, and I've never seen half the things I wanted to. I don't think wanting comes into it. You'd best go all the same. -- George R R Martin
Jaime Lannister sends his regards. -- George R R Martin
Wherever she looked, she saw fires. They covered the earth like fallen stars, and like the stars there was no end to them. -- George R R Martin
Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran. Remember the way she told them, the sound of her voice. So long as you do that, part of her will always be alive in you. -- George R R Martin
It was queer how sometimes a child's innocent eyes can see things that grown men are blind to. -- George R R Martin
A bastard had to learn to notice things, to read the truth that people hid behind their eyes. -- George R R Martin
Focus is useless if you're only focused every now and then. It's showing up time after time that makes the difference. -- George R R Martin
You do not steal from the dragon, oh, no. The dragon remembers. -- George R R Martin
so the shoes of their mules made only the softest sound on the rock. The quiet soothed her, and the gentle rocking -- George R R Martin
But there's no one to find me now, is there? This time I have to find our own way, and it is hard, so hard. -- George R R Martin
A sword is only as good as the man who wields it. -- George R R Martin
Writing is like sausage making in my view; you'll all be happier in the end if you just eat the final product without knowing what's gone into it. -- George R R Martin
The grave casts long shadows, Iron Lord," Mirri said. "Long and dark, and in the end no light can hold them back. -- George R R Martin
A clever slave deserves a clever master, and you lot all look like fools. -- George R R Martin
Beneath it his skin was milky white, serene and unlined, ready to begin anew, ready for the world to write upon it. -- George R R Martin
You may be different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. -- George R R Martin
I've never been a fast writer. -- George R R Martin
My uncle always said that it was the sword in a man's hand that determined his wroth, not the one between his legs. - Arianne -- George R R Martin
He spoke of dreams and never named the dreamer, of a glass candle that could not be lit and eggs that would not hatch. He said the sphinx was the riddle, not the riddler, whatever that meant. -- George R R Martin
Sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler. -- George R R Martin
Let him grow taller,she asked the gods.Let him know sixteen, and twenty, and fifty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms. Please, please, please. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion: My gentle sister seems to have mistaken me for Ned Stark.
Bronn: I hear he was taller.
Tyrion: Not after Joff took off his head. -- George R R Martin
Every northerner is worth ten of these southron swords, -- George R R Martin
THE KING IN THE NORTH! -- George R R Martin
Do you hate her?"
"Almost as much as I lover her." - Dany & Ser Jorah -- George R R Martin
Only a man who's been burned knows what hell is truly like. -- George R R Martin
Valor is a poor substitute for numbers -- George R R Martin
There was an agelessness about him, a stillness; on Roose Bolton's face, rage and joy looked much the same. -- George R R Martin
Bolton's silence was a hundred times more threatening than Vargo Hoat's slobbering malevolence. Pale -- George R R Martin
There are other things I newly wake with. A sadness that is different altogether from the cloudy sediment dread bears up. It is dark and solo. I can't see the bottom of it. And another thing I don't recognise, a kind of hunger to grab another person and press them as deep into knowing as I've gone. -- George R R Martin
If any man tries to stop us, cut him down. -- George R R Martin
An artist has an obligation to tell the truth. [ ... ] that the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves. We are the monsters. (And the heroes too). Each of us has within himself the capacity for great good, and great evil. -- George R R Martin
Would that some could find the courage to help themselves. Craster sprawls in his loft even now, stinking of wine and lost to sense. On his board below lies a sharp new axe. Were it me, I'd name it Answered Prayer' and make an end. -- George R R Martin
Hundreds had come to the castle gates to bear witness to the burning of the Seven. The smell in the air was ugly. Even for soldiers, it was hard not to feel uneasy at such an affront to the gods most had worshiped all their lives. -- George R R Martin
I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war. -- George R R Martin
I vow that you shall always have a place by my hearth and meat and mead at my table, and pledge to ask no service of you that might bring you into dishonor. I swear it by the old gods and the new. Arise. -- George R R Martin
Wild things belong in the wild, not in a castle. -- George R R Martin
There was no slavery in the free city of Pentos. Nonetheless, they were slaves. -- George R R Martin
If a man does not use his member it grows smaller and smaller until one day he wants to piss and cannot find it. -- George R R Martin
He must hate me, or he would have let me die. -- George R R Martin
What sort of man would proclaim himself a coward? -- George R R Martin
The years leech at a man's memories, even those he has vowed never to forget. -- George R R Martin
Jaime cupped his hands to shout. -- George R R Martin
This is old news, and stale," growled the Shavepate. "Your mother said the same of your father's kisses," Daario replied. -- George R R Martin
Is it all lies, forever and ever, everyone and everything? - Sansa -- George R R Martin
How can I do my duty if I do not know where it lies? -- George R R Martin
He's going to be as useful as nipples on a breastplate. -- George R R Martin
Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner. -- George R R Martin
Cersei Lannister: I shall wear this as a badge of honor.
Robert Barathon: Wear it in silence or I'll honor you again. -- George R R Martin
Half-truths are worth more than outright lies. -- George R R Martin
When the writing is going really well, whole days and weeks go by, and I suddenly realise I have all these unpaid bills and, my God, I haven't unpacked, and the suitcase has been sitting there for three weeks. -- George R R Martin
Though neither Queen Cersei nor Queen Margaery was amongst them, their presence could be felt poisoning the air, like ghosts at a feast. -- George R R Martin
Did you think I was as blind as Father?" Tyrion rubbed his cheek. "Who you lie with is no matter to me ... although it doesn't seem quite just that you should open your legs for one brother and not the other. -- George R R Martin
I have climbed these steps so often I know each one by name. -- George R R Martin
It was astonishing to see how angry Cersei could wax over accusations she knew perfectly well to be true. -- George R R Martin
Falyse opened and closed her mouth, which made her look like some especially stupid fish. -- George R R Martin
And I tell you truly, Daenerys, there is no man in all the world who will ever be half so true to you as me. -- George R R Martin
Daenerys is a fourteen-year-old girl. -- George R R Martin
Keep walking. If I look back I am lost. -- George R R Martin
Is it so far from madness to wisdom?
- Daenerys Targaryen -- George R R Martin
Remember who you are, Daenerys, ... The dragons know. Do you? - Quaithe -- George R R Martin
If I look back, I am lost. - Daenerys Targaryen -- George R R Martin
I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyeria. I am the dragon's daughter. -- George R R Martin
The plan was to reveal Prince Aegon only when we reached Queen Daenerys, Lemore was saying. -- George R R Martin
They betrayed me. But they saved me. But they lied. - Daenerys -- George R R Martin
Perhaps I cannot make my people good, she told herself, but I should at least try to make them a little less bad. -- George R R Martin
I will take what is mine with fire and blood. -- George R R Martin
I am the blood of the dragon. Do not presume to teach me lessons. -- George R R Martin
All Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known. -- George R R Martin
He was no dragon, Dany thought, curiously calm. Fire cannot kill a dragon -- George R R Martin
The title was but a courtesy due him as a council member; Varys was lord of nothing but the spiderweb, the master of none but his whisperers. -- George R R Martin
I am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings. -- George R R Martin
But the girl did not have sense enough to be afraid. -- George R R Martin
I had an encyclopedia with a list of flags in the back, so I would look at all these flags of China and Liberia and England and Denmark and whatever, and I learned all the different flags, and I tried to imagine what it would be like to be voyaging on some of these ships. -- George R R Martin
He made plans to keep himself sane, built castles of hope in the dark. -- George R R Martin
Though there are those who say it does not matter how a man begins, but only how he ends. -- George R R Martin
The Dothraki believed that all things of importance in a man's life must be done beneath the open sky. -- George R R Martin
Paint stripes on a toad, he does not become a tiger. -- George R R Martin
It's like putting on new clothes, Sam had told him. The fit feels strange at first, but once you've worn them for a while you get to feeling comfortable. -- George R R Martin
I shall wear that as a badge of honor.
-Cercei Lannister -- George R R Martin
Three treasons you will know;. One for blood, one for gold, and one for love. -- George R R Martin
Quiet as a shadow
Light as a feather
Quick as a snake
Calm as still water
Smooth as summer silk
Swift as a deer
Slippery as an eel
Strong as a bear
Fierce as a wolverine
Still as stone -- George R R Martin
They hate you because you act like you're better than they are -- George R R Martin
So what will you do, m'lord, now that you're the Hand of the King?" Shae asked him as he cupped that warm sweet flesh. "Something Cersei will never expect," Tyrion murmured softly against her slender neck. "I'll do ... justice. -- George R R Martin
A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness -- George R R Martin
She rode him as fiercely as ever she had ridden her silver, and when the moment of his pleasure came, Khal Drogo called out her name. -- George R R Martin
The horn that wakes the sleepers! The shield that guard the realms of men! -- George R R Martin
I swear to you, sitting a throne is a thousand times harder than winning one. -- George R R Martin
Speak the name, and death will come. On the morrow, at the turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there. -- George R R Martin
Duty. Honor. He yearns to write his name large across the book of history, to get away from his wife, or both. Perhaps he just wants to be warm for once in his life. -- George R R Martin
Never ask me about Jon; he is my blood and that is all you need to know! Ned was different. He brought his bastard home, and called him son. -- George R R Martin
A man who hates music can't be trusted, I always say. -- George R R Martin
And Jon had ordered benches and tables brought in. Men with comfortable seats were more inclined to listen, Maester Aemon had once told him; standing men were more inclined to shout. -- George R R Martin
Daario. If ever there was a man who could -- George R R Martin
She was drunk on the magic of the night, giddy with glamour, swept away by beauties she had dreamt of all her life and never dared hope to know. -- George R R Martin
It is not the foes who curse you to your face that you must fear, but those who smile when you are looking and sharpen their knives when you turn your back. -- George R R Martin
If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look him in the face and hear his last words, -- George R R Martin
Swyft, a shameless lickspittle whose greatest accomplishment was marrying his equally chinless daughter to Ser Kevan, and thereby attaching himself to the Lannisters. -- George R R Martin
It is one thing to deceive a king, and quite another to hide from the cricket in the rushes and the little bird in the chimney. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes I think everyone is just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending is how you get brave, I don't know. -- George R R Martin
How long has it been since you've eaten?
My faith is all the nourishment I need.
Faith is like porridge. Better with milk and honey. -- George R R Martin
Sam pissed himself all over again. I didn't think I had any more left inside me. -- George R R Martin
Jon could not find it in him to pray to any gods, old or new. If they were real, he thought, they were as cruel and implacable as winter. -- George R R Martin
And pray that he is the man I think he is, he finished silently, and not the man I fear he has become. -- George R R Martin
I have no one to talk with, Father," she told him. "I pray, but the gods do not answer. -- George R R Martin
Men may plot and plan and scheme, but they had best pray as well, for no plan ever made by man has ever withstood the whims of the gods above. -- George R R Martin
I pray he found the peace in death that he never knew in life. -- George R R Martin
Believe it or not, I worked four summers in college as a sports writer covering baseball for a parks and rec department in Bayonne, N.J. -- George R R Martin
He may not look as tall or strong as some, but he is worth more than all of them. - Lysa -- George R R Martin
Some knights are dark and full of terror, my lady. War makes monsters of us all. -- George R R Martin
The girl had hoped for fog, but the gods ignored her prayers as gods so often did. -- George R R Martin
And any man who must say 'I am king' is no true king at all. -- George R R Martin
Whatever happens, I thank you for your leal service. -- George R R Martin
Sweet it was, sweet and gone too soon. Dawn came cruel, a dagger of light. -- George R R Martin
The sad truth of history has always been that the unreasoning masses follow the powerful, and not the wise. -- George R R Martin
So come walk these strange streets with us, and let's see where we'll end up. George R. R. Martin July 1, 2010 -- George R R Martin
Free folk and kneelers are more alike than not, Jon Snow. Men are men and women women, no matter which side of the Wall we were born on. Good men and bad, heroes and villains, men of honor, liars, cravens, brutes ... we have plenty, as do you. -- George R R Martin
It seems to me that a queen who trusts no one is as foolish as a queen who trusts everyone. -- George R R Martin
Fear cuts deeper than swords. -- George R R Martin
Spare me your empty little compliments, girl ... and you ser's. I am no knight. I spit on them and their vows. -- George R R Martin
A wise King keeps his own counsel. -- George R R Martin
I have idea files of books that I want to write one of these days, stories I want to write one of these days, but I'll probably never get to them. -- George R R Martin
have you lost since I left the city? Two, -- George R R Martin
Hold yourself.. why Winter is coming. Eddard Stark -- George R R Martin
I'll have peace on those terms," Lord Karstark said. "They can keep their red castle and their iron chair as well." He eased his longsword from its scabbard. "The King in the North!" he said, kneeling beside the Greatjon. -- George R R Martin
The success that the Tolkien books had redefined modern fantasy. -- George R R Martin
I am loyal to my beloved Joffrey. (Sansa)
No doubt. As loyal as a deer surrounded by wolves. (Tyrion)
Lions, she whispered without thinking. -- George R R Martin
The Red Keep shelters two sorts of people, Lord Eddard, Varys said. Those who are loyal to the realm, and those who are loyal only to themselves. -- George R R Martin
You would do well to know about the lives of those who went before. -- George R R Martin
Once, I cut off a man's head, but he did not know it until he tried to brush his hair. Then it fell off. -- George R R Martin
Not every man is what he seems, and a prince especially has good cause to be wary ... but go too far down that road, and the mistrust can poison you, make you sour and fearful. -- George R R Martin
It's different for every writer. It's not a career for anyone who needs security. It's a career for gamblers. It's a career of ups and downs. -- George R R Martin
In his dreams Jaime always had two hands; one was made of gold, but it worked just like the other. -- George R R Martin
Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old. -- George R R Martin
But the melancholy of Worlorn's dying forests had seeped into his flesh, and he saw Gwen through tainted eyes, a doll figure in a suit as faded as despair. -- George R R Martin
Honey poured over thunder. -- George R R Martin
The truth will set us free. But freedom is cold and empty and frightening, and lies can often be warm and beautiful. -- George R R Martin
The Dothraki named the comet shierak qiya, the Bleeding Star. -- George R R Martin
But the old wolf's dead and young one's gone south to play the game of thrones, -- George R R Martin
I'm not an owl. I'm a wolf. I'll howl. -Arya Stark -- George R R Martin
I'm not an owl," said Arya. "I'm a wolf. I'll howl. -- George R R Martin
In my 10 years that I spent out in TV and film, I had my shares of frustrations and annoyances and disappointments, but also I think it was, in the long run, it was very good for me in a whole bunch of ways. -- George R R Martin
There are fights no sword can win, Catelyn wanted to tell him, but she feared the king was deaf to such words. -- George R R Martin
Fear filled his gut like a meal he could not digest. -- George R R Martin
None of us is ever ready,' he (Ned) said. 'For knighthood?' 'For death. -- George R R Martin
Varys appeared not long after Lord Jacelyn had left. "Men are such faithless creatures," he said by way of greeting. Tyrion sighed. "Who's the traitor today?" The eunuch handed him a scroll. "So much villainy, it sings a sad song for our age. Did honor die with your fathers? -- George R R Martin
Why, that is why the gods made whores for imps like me. -- George R R Martin
You stiff-necked fool," he muttered, "too proud to listen. Can you eat pride, Stark? Will honor shield your children? -- George R R Martin
A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic, you'll learn that soon enough ... and the parts that look like magic turn out to be the messiest of all. -- George R R Martin
If you die before you say her name, ser, I will hunt you through all seven hells.
Prince Oberyn of Dorne. -- George R R Martin
And the stars in the night were the eyes of his wolves, and the wind itself was their song. -- George R R Martin
Her name's Brienne. -- George R R Martin
Still, night falls for all of us in the end, and too soon for some. -- George R R Martin
Night falls, he thought, and now my war begins. -- George R R Martin
Ned closed his eyes and opened them; it made no difference. He slept and woke and slept again. He did not know which was more painful, the waking or the sleeping. -- George R R Martin
The hotel bar was quiet and dark, with the kind of mood that promotes good talk and serious drinking. -- George R R Martin
Her brother Rhaegar had died for the woman he loved. -- George R R Martin
No matter how far back Ned searched in the brittle yellowed pages, always he found the gold yielding before the coal. -- George R R Martin
Steel weighs more than wind. -- George R R Martin
I'm fond of all my characters so every time one doesn't make the cut I'm a little disappointed although I understand it. -- George R R Martin
I find religion and spirituality fascinating. I would like to believe this isn't the end and there's something more, but I can't convince the rational part of me that that makes any sense whatsoever. -- George R R Martin
Light our fire and protect us from the dark, blah blah, light our way and keep us toasty warm, the night is dark and full of terrors, save us from the scary things, and blah blah blah some more. -- George R R Martin
All men are so afflicted, from time to time. -- George R R Martin
One of those was occupied by a dwarf. Clean-shaved and pink-cheeked, with a mop of chestnut hair, a heavy brow, and a squashed nose, he perched on a high stool with a wooden spoon in hand, contemplating a bowl of purplish gruel with red-rimmed eyes. Ugly little bastard, Tyrion thought. The -- George R R Martin
Even a man who had survived a hundred battle can break in his hundred-and-first. -- George R R Martin
Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be. -- George R R Martin
There's no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it. -- George R R Martin
If sinners speak, why should the righteous listen? -- George R R Martin
You cannot tame a dragon with a history lesson. -- George R R Martin
I think you go to some hell for that. One o'the bad ones. -- George R R Martin
Shy maids are my favorite sort. Aside from wanton ones. -- George R R Martin
The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, its fabled empire vanished in a day, the Lands of the Long Summer scorched and drowned and blighted. -- George R R Martin
I had these cheap alien toys and I made up stories for them. They were space pirates. They didn't have names so I made up names. These were the first stories I wrote. Even as a little kid I was thinking about torture. -- George R R Martin
Ser Alliser Thorne walked from the room so stiffly it looked as though he had a dagger up his butt. -- George R R Martin
People never looked up. -- George R R Martin
All his life Tyrion had prided himself on his cunning, the only gift the gods had seen fit to give him, and yet this seven-times-damned she-wolf Catelyn Stark had outwitted him at every turn. The -- George R R Martin
Gold is sweet, but life is sweeter, -- George R R Martin
The evening's rain had woken a hundred sleeping smells and made them ripe and strong again -- George R R Martin
Not all of us can be as bold as Jaime, but there are other ways to win wars. -- George R R Martin
In a heartbeat, a thousand voices took up the chant. King Joffrey and King Robb and King Stannis were forgotten, and King Bread ruled alone. "Bread." they clamored. "Bread, Bread! -- George R R Martin
As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death. "Lord Eddard," Lyanna called again. "I promise," he whispered. "Lya, I promise -- George R R Martin
Thirteen or thirty or three, I would have killed the man who did that to me. -- George R R Martin
I know who's going to be on the throne [in the Gameof Thrones], at the end, so I better not say. But, there will be a few people sitting on it, before the end. -- George R R Martin
Her big hand wrapped tight around Oathkeeper. "I will. And I will find the girl and keep her safe. For her lady mother's sake. And for yours. -- George R R Martin
It is a terrible thing we contemplate, a vile thing. Yet we who presume to rule must do vile things for the good of the realm, howevermuch it pains us. -- George R R Martin
Silence sometimes yielded more than questions. -- George R R Martin
For she was his secret treasure, she was his shame and his bliss. And a chain and a keep are nothing, compared to a woman's kiss. -- George R R Martin
Tears, she said scornfully to Sansa as the woman was led from the hall. The woman's weapon, my lady mother used to call them. The man's weapon is a sword. And that tells us all you need to know, doesn't it? -- George R R Martin
Dunk the Drunk, what is it that you think you heard? -- George R R Martin
Septon Barth's claim that the Valyrians came to Westeros because their priests prophesied that the Doom of Man would come out of the land beyond the narrow sea can safely be dismissed as nonsense, as can many of Barth's queerer beliefs and suppositions. -- George R R Martin
Let them say what they will. I can still fly.
- Earl Sanderson, Jr. -- George R R Martin
Robert was never the same after he put on that crown. Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them up and they go to rust. -- George R R Martin
My father called them smallfolk," said Tyrion, "and he was not what you'd call a jolly man. -- George R R Martin
Trust would get you killed. -- George R R Martin
Or wolves." "Dogs, wolves, -- George R R Martin
How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king? -- George R R Martin
Do you think it will truly come to battle between them? If they should come to some accord - "
"They won't," Tyrion said. "They are too different and yet too much alike, and neither could ever stomach the other. -- George R R Martin
Give gold to a foe and he will just come back for more, -- George R R Martin
No more should you doubt this, my prince
my sisters and I shall not wait ten-and-seven years for our vengeance.' She put her spurs into the mare and she was off, galloping toward Sunspear with her tail in hot pursuit. -- George R R Martin
She had never loved him so much as she did in that instant. -- George R R Martin
In life the monsters win' - Sansa Stark -- George R R Martin
It takes courage to admit fear. -- George R R Martin
I am tempted to say this is no game we play, daughter, but of course it is. The game of thrones. -- George R R Martin
Laughter is poison to fear. -- George R R Martin
The Dothraki believed the stars were horses made of fire, a great herd that galloped across the sky by night. -- George R R Martin
There are no heroes...in life, the monsters win. -- George R R Martin
More details, more devils. -- George R R Martin
I never understood what Jaime saw in you, apart from his own reflection. -- George R R Martin
Even brave men blind themselves sometimes, when they are afraid to see. -- George R R Martin
Laws should be made of iron, not of pudding. -- George R R Martin
That was the day without a dawn. -- George R R Martin
Ned's mouth tightened in anger. "Nor will I. Leave it be, Robert, for the love you say you bear me. I dishonored myself and I dishonored Catelyn, in the sight of gods and men. -- George R R Martin
Not a queen," said Dany. "A khaleesi. -- George R R Martin
Let them look. Let them stare and whisper until they've had their fill, I will not hide myself for their sake. - Tyrion Lannister -- George R R Martin
Yet somehow it felt as though the world were holding it's breath. -- George R R Martin
The singers make much of kings who die valiantly in battle, but your life is worth more than a song. -- George R R Martin
One war ends, another begins. -- George R R Martin
They will look, and they will talk, and some will mock you." Let them mock, -- George R R Martin
Men who pay in promises should have at least the sense to promise more. -- George R R Martin
Where do whores go? -- George R R Martin
A modest fellow, this one," the septon said to Ser Lucas. "Were I as large as him, I'd call myself Ser Sefton the Immense. Ser Sefton the Tower. Ser Sefton with the Clouds About His Ears. -- George R R Martin
Half as big but twice as mad. -- George R R Martin
A lot of writing takes place in the subconscious, and it's bound to have an effect. -- George R R Martin
There have always been men who found it easier to speak vows than to keep them. -- George R R Martin
Sorcery was a sword without a hilt. There is no sfe way to grasp it. -- George R R Martin
Lady Brienne is a warrior maid," confided Septon Meribald, "hunting for the Hound." "Aye?" Narbert seemed taken aback. "To what end?" Brienne touched Oathkeeper's hilt. "His," she said. -- George R R Martin
All kings must be butchers or meat. -- George R R Martin
Only the innocent know the peace of untroubled sleep. Confess sins, and you will sleep like a newborn babe. -- George R R Martin
There were other things to tend to first. There were other debts to pay. -- George R R Martin
Joff loves me and the queen does too, she said so. -- George R R Martin
What are you doing to me?" he asked the crow, tearful. Teaching you how to fly. "I can't fly!" You're flying right now. "I'm falling!" Every flight begins with a fall, the crow said. -- George R R Martin
If truth be told, Jaime had come to rue heaving Brandon Stark out that window. -- George R R Martin
An ugly smile. An ugly soul. -- George R R Martin
When I am writing best, I really am lost in my world. I lose track of the outside world. I have a difficult time balancing between my real world and the artificial world. -- George R R Martin
We look up at the same stars and see such different things. -- George R R Martin
Bleed a cold but feast a fever. -- George R R Martin
Can you drown in grief? She turned away sharply, angry with her own frailty. She had no time for the luxury of self-pity. -- George R R Martin
But I am running to and you are running from, and there's a world of difference there. -- George R R Martin
Our enemies leave our bodies for the crows and the wolves. Our friends bury us in secret graves. -- George R R Martin
We will fight a battle, and then we will rest. Alive or dead, we'll rest. - Jon Snow -- George R R Martin
None of us wants trouble, but I fear these are troubled times, -- George R R Martin
Be open where you can and stealthy where you must -- George R R Martin
I vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to her." "You did," Ned reminded him. "Only once," Robert said bitterly. -- George R R Martin
I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I'm writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character. -- George R R Martin
He walked like a man half in his cups. -- George R R Martin
I should say something, but what? Pardon me, Father, but it's our brother she wants to marry? -- George R R Martin
What man wants does not matter. -- George R R Martin
There's naught to eat in the dark but flesh. -- George R R Martin
This morning he had been so heartsick and weary he could scarcely stand, but now his fury was on him, filling him with strength. -- George R R Martin
What was it Catelyn Stark had called them, that night at Bitterbridge? The knights of summer. And now it was autumn and they were falling like leaves ... -- George R R Martin
Now, Bran, the crow urged. Choose. Fly or die. Death reached for him, screaming. Bran spread his arms and flew. -- George R R Martin
Would you lesson me in warfare? I was fighting battles when you were sucking mother's milk.
And losing battles too. -- George R R Martin
So long as men remember the wrongs done to their forebears, no peace will ever last. -- George R R Martin
A smuggler must know the tides and when to seize them. -- George R R Martin
A man has to fight to the bitter end and then some more -- George R R Martin
The air smelled of paper and dust and years. -- George R R Martin
She had put despair and fear aside, as if they were garments she did not choose to wear. -- George R R Martin
There's something wrong here," Gared muttered. The young knight gave him a disdainful smile. "Is there?" "Can't you feel it?" Gared asked. "Listen to the darkness. -- George R R Martin
Will holding a secret in your heart make it any less true? If you never tell, never speak of it, will it become only a dream, less than a dream, a nightmare half-remembered? Oh, if only the gods would be so good. (Catelyn) -- George R R Martin
Alyn carried the Stark banner. When she saw him rein in beside Lord Beric to exchange words, it made Sansa feel ever so proud. Alyn was handsomer than Jory had been; he was going to be a knight one day. The Tower of the Hand -- George R R Martin
I must never go far from the sea again. -- George R R Martin
If war were arithmetic, then the mathematicians would rule the world. (Lord Petyr Baelish) -- George R R Martin
On the twenty-sixth day of the fifteen-day march, the last of the vegetables was consumed. On the thirty-second day, the last of the grain and fodder. Asha wondered how long a man could live on raw, half-frozen horse meat. -- George R R Martin
Most of the stories you hear about dragons are fodder for fools. -- George R R Martin
The world is full of horrors, Tommen. You can fight them, or laugh at them, or look without seeing ... -- George R R Martin
The Iron Bank will have its due. -- George R R Martin
By the time we leave this table, all of us must be of a single mind, with a single purpose. -- George R R Martin
My mother told me that dead men don't sing -- George R R Martin
Well, that egg has hatched. Let's see what color the chick -- George R R Martin
My sword's yours, then... but don't go looking for me to bend the knee and m'lord you every time you take a shit. I'm no man's toady. -- George R R Martin
Wine makes all things possible. GEORGE R. R. MARTIN, The Mystery Knight A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things. GEORGE R. R. MARTIN, A Game of Thrones Nothing burns like the cold. GEORGE R. R. MARTIN, A Game of Thrones Laughter is poison to fear. -- George R R Martin
A sweet fate oft hides a sinner's heart. -- George R R Martin
Words are not swords. -- George R R Martin
Seasoned killers all, thought Selmy, but it is one thing to face a foe in the pit when his coming is heralded by horns and drums and another to find a hidden killer before he can strike. -- George R R Martin
The scent of blood or the scent of gold, they smell the same in the end. -- George R R Martin
Tormund Thunderfist had better things to do than learn to make papers talk at him. -- George R R Martin
A man who reads lives a thousands lives. A man who doesn't read live one life. -- George R R Martin
Fear makes even strong me do things they might never do otherwise, and my father was never strong. - Arianne -- George R R Martin
And his father's voice replied to him. That is the only time a man can be brave. -- George R R Martin
Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?'
'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him. -- George R R Martin
The North remembers. -- George R R Martin
A Hedge Knight is the truest kind of knight, Dunk. Other Knights serve the Lords who keep them, or from whom they hold their lands, but we serve where we will, for men whose causes we believe in. Every Knight swears to protect the weak, but we keep the vow the best, I think. -- George R R Martin
A hedge knight must hold tight to his pride. Without it, he was no more than a sellsword -- George R R Martin
A blowing rain lashed at Jon's face as he spurred his horse across the swollen stream. -- George R R Martin
Expect nothing of Walder Frey, and you will never be surprised. -- George R R Martin
So young," said Wyman Manderly, "Though mayhaps this was a blessing. Had he lived he would've grown up to be a Frey. -- George R R Martin
We only make peace with our enemies. That's why it's called making peace. -- George R R Martin
the name Lannister sent cold fingers creeping up his spine. There was something about the Lannisters, something he ought to remember, but when he tried to think what, he felt dizzy and his stomach clenched hard as a stone. Robb spent -- George R R Martin
Lannisters are killing Lannisters, how sweet. -- George R R Martin
The Lannisters never declined, graciously or otherwise. The Lannisters took what was offered. -- George R R Martin
Mother could be fiercer than the Warrior when her children are in danger. -- George R R Martin
You will die a dozen deaths, boy, and every one will hurt ... but when your true death comes, you will live again. The second life is simpler and sweeter, they say. -- George R R Martin
A good lord must know his men. -- George R R Martin
A sweet offer . . . yet sweets can be poisoned. -- George R R Martin
Disease could wipe out an army quicker than any battle. -- George R R Martin
The red priestess shuddered. Blood trickled down her thigh, black and smoking. The fire was inside her, an agony, an ecstasy, filling her, searing her, transforming her. Shimmers of heat traced patterns on her skin, insistent as a lover's hand. -- George R R Martin
Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used against you -- George R R Martin
Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you -- George R R Martin
Even the bravest men fear death and maiming -- George R R Martin
Not all risks lead to ruin. -- George R R Martin
Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died. -- George R R Martin
Not one in twenty was ever rich enough to own a real sword." His look was grim. "So how do you like the taste of your victories now, Lord Snow? -- George R R Martin
The oft repeated jape about his father was just another lie, Lord Tywin Lannister in the end did not shit gold. -- George R R Martin
Sitting at a crowded table with men who did not share a common language with you, listening to them talk and jape whilst understanding none of it, had quickly grown wearisome. Particularly since he always found himself wondering if the japes and laughter were directed at him. -- George R R Martin
You don't need a longsword to deal with jellied calves' brains.
- Catelyn Stark -- George R R Martin
The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife. -- George R R Martin
Valar Dohaeris. All must men serve. -- George R R Martin
Valar Dohaeris. All men must serve. -- George R R Martin
You are more ignorant than a child, ser knight. There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows. -- George R R Martin
Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryan was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall when by rights he should have been raised to archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. -- George R R Martin
And suddenly his cock was out, jutting upward from his breeches like a fat pink mast. -- George R R Martin
The smells were a song around him, a song that filled the good green world. -- George R R Martin
Chamfron. Crimson silk draped his hindquarters, -- George R R Martin
What grasses the horses had left was heavy with dew, as if some passing god had scattered a bag of diamonds over the earth. -- George R R Martin
Perhaps that is the secret. It is not what we do, so much as why we do it. -- George R R Martin
In a swordfight, a man's surest defense is the swift stroke that slays his foe, not cringing behind a shield. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes prayers are answered." Jon -- George R R Martin
She has never seen a dwarf before, he realized, much less a dwarf without a nose. He made a face, and stuck his tongue out, and the girl began to cry.
'What did you do to her?' Duck asked.
'I blew her a kiss. All girls cry when I kiss them. -- George R R Martin
That night the wind was howling almost like a wolf and there were some real wolves off to the west giving it lessons. -- George R R Martin
Trueborn children are made in a marriage bed and blessed by the Father and the Mother, but bastards are born of lust and weakness. -- George R R Martin
Three male, two female." "What of it, Jon?" "You have five trueborn children, -- George R R Martin
All men are fools, if truth be told, but the ones in motley are more amusing than ones with crowns. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, and the wind from Manderly's mouth means no more than the wind escaping his bottom. -- George R R Martin
We are born to suffer, that our suffering might make us strong -- George R R Martin
I will teach them what it means to put a lion in a cage, Cersei thought. -- George R R Martin
There were some secrets that should never be spoken, some shames a man should take to his grave. -- George R R Martin
You cannot know what the light might summon from the darkness. -- George R R Martin
glass knives were about as useful as nipples on a knight's breastplate, -- George R R Martin
I'm short, not blind," Tyrion said. -- George R R Martin
Syrio says that every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson makes you better -- George R R Martin
retinue to the city for the tourney on Prince Joffrey's -- George R R Martin
Where the king goes, the realm follows
-Catlyn Stark- -- George R R Martin
If he doesn't give her back, chop off his manhood and feed it to the goats," Tyrion promised. "Provided you can find some. -- George R R Martin
Knights burned in their saddles as the hair and hide and harness of their horses went up in flames. -- George R R Martin
We were king's men, knights, and heroes ... but some knights are dark and full of terror, my lady. War makes monsters of us all."
"Are you saying you are monsters?"
"I am saying we are human. You are not the only one with wounds, Lady Brienne -- George R R Martin
but some knights are dark and full of terror, my lady. -- George R R Martin
And winter was coming. -- George R R Martin
The Others never come when the sun is up. -- George R R Martin
My queen? You have a strange look in your eyes. Are you unwell?
I was just ... remembering. -- George R R Martin
Tell me, Bronn. If I told you to kill a babe ... an infant girl, say, still at her mother's breast ... would you do it? Without question?
Without question? No. The sellsword rubbed thumb and forefinger together. I'd ask how much. -- George R R Martin
But the world preferred to forget that men who knew how to heal also knew how to kill. -- George R R Martin
Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true? -- George R R Martin
Only a starving man asks bread from a begger -- George R R Martin
Bad and worse and worst makes a beggar's choice. -- George R R Martin
All the best swords have names." "Like Ice," she said. She looked at the blade in her hand. "Does this have a name? Oh, tell me." "Can't you guess?" Jon teased. "Your very favorite thing." Arya seemed puzzled at first. Then it came to her. She was that quick. They said it together: "Needle! -- George R R Martin
The little man gave the big one a look. One of his eyes was green, one was black, and both were cool. -- George R R Martin
Fire consumes.' Lord Beric stood behind them, and there was something in his voice that silenced Thoros at once. 'It consumes, and when it is done there is nothing left. Nothing. -- George R R Martin
Once I dreamed of flying, she thought, and now I've flown, and dream of stealing eggs. That made her laugh. "Men are mad and gods are madder" she told the grass, and the grass murmured its agreement. -- George R R Martin
No man had need of candles when the sun awaited him. -- George R R Martin
I work for two years on a book and it comes out and two days later I've got my first e-mail: When is the next one coming out? -- George R R Martin
At Highgarden we have many spiders amongst the flowers. So long as they keep to themselves we let them
spin their little webs, but if they get underfoot we step on them. -- George R R Martin
The day is won [ ... ] And yet you do not smile, boy. The living should smile, for the dead cannot. -- George R R Martin
The sun will soon be setting, and corpses make poor company by night. These were dark and dangerous men, alive. I doubt that death will have improved them. -- George R R Martin
Wise men may grow arrogant in their wisdom, but a maester must always remain humble. -- George R R Martin
Has my tale turned you speechless? Come, curse me or kiss me or call me a liar. Something. -- George R R Martin
In the closeness of the passage, the queen could smell the other woman's perfume, a musky scent that spoke of moss and earth and wildflowers. Under it, she smelled ambition. -- George R R Martin
No one mocked him in his bedchamber, but he would not live his life in bed. -- George R R Martin
Every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson makes you better. Ned -- George R R Martin
A weirwood will live forever if left undisturbed. -- George R R Martin
Five Aegons had ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. There would have been a sixth, but the Usurper's dogs had murdered her brother's son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him. Aegon would have been closer to my age than Viserys. -- George R R Martin
Dark wings, dark words," Ned said grimly. -- George R R Martin
The Drowned God did not answer. He seldom did. That was the trouble with gods. -- George R R Martin
Sand dogs must eat and feed their pups. -- George R R Martin
I will not suffer to be called a whore! Why, sister, he never claims Jaime paid you. -- George R R Martin
No one has ever died of restlessness, but rashness is another matter. We've planted seeds, let them grow. -- George R R Martin
I just need to rest, that's all, to rest and sleep some, and maybe die a little. -- George R R Martin
The most important thing for any aspiring writer, is to read! And not just the sort of thing you're trying to write, be that fantasy, SF, comic books, whatever. You need to read everything. -- George R R Martin
All she felt was pity, and pity was death to desire -- George R R Martin
Even the finest of jugglers cannot keep a hundred balls in the air forever. -- George R R Martin
Who'd want to kill the likes of you?"
"My lord father, for one. He's put me in the van."
"I'd do the same. A small man with a big shield. You'll give the archers fits. -- George R R Martin
He meant to live. -- George R R Martin
I need to write faster, but I make no promises. I found out long ago that when you look at the overall task, the cathedral you have to build, it looks so daunting that you just give up and sit down and play a video game. -- George R R Martin
The summers have been shorter since the last dragon died, and the winters longer and crueler. -- George R R Martin
Let them see that their words can cut you and you'll never be free of the mockery. -- George R R Martin
Bastard children were born from lust and lies, men said; their nature was wanton and treacherous. - Jon Snow -- George R R Martin
You were made to be kissed, often and well. -- George R R Martin
He did not know whether he ought to be delighted or terrified. Perhaps a smidge of both. - Tyrion -- George R R Martin
You promised him vengeance as well.' 'I promised him justice.' 'Call it what you will. It still comes down to blood. - Tywin & Tyrion -- George R R Martin
Thought they were being dragged here to name Lord Tywin a red-handed butcher before a -- George R R Martin
How would you like to die, Tyrion son of Tywin?"
"In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maiden's mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty," he replied. -- George R R Martin
This is folly, Tyrion,' declared Lord Tywin. 'Speak to the matter at hand. You are not on trial for being a dwarf.
'That is where you err, my lord. I have been on trial for being a dwarf my entire life. -- George R R Martin
We'll shove our swords up Tywin Lannister's bunghole soon enough, -- George R R Martin
A lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. -- George R R Martin
There is a long league's worth of difference between willful and stupid. - Tywin Lannister -- George R R Martin
You are done with whores. The next one I find in your bed, I'll hang." - Tywin Lannister -- George R R Martin
It's so beautiful here, I don't want to think about everything dying. -- George R R Martin
Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers. -- George R R Martin
'Rome' was one of my favourite shows, and I wish HBO had given it three more seasons 'cause I would have loved to continue watching it. -- George R R Martin
Muscled like a maiden's fantasy -- George R R Martin
For battle, the new boy looked like an overcooked sausage -- George R R Martin
Mothers." The man made a word sound like a curse. "I think birthing does something to your minds. You are all mad. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is nothing.
Catelyn -- George R R Martin
Kingsmoot shall emerge a man to finish the work King Balon -- George R R Martin
The red sun pulled itself from sleep and glared upon the world that it must still serve, though itself of more than pensionable age. -- George R R Martin
Bran could not take his eyes off the blood. The snows around the stump drank it eagerly, reddening as he watched. -- George R R Martin
That little touch is not in the books, but I wish it had been in the books because it was a great addition. -- George R R Martin
There is no shame in loving. -- George R R Martin
My name is Marillion," the singer said, plucking a string on his woodharp. "Doubtless you've heard me play somewhere? -- George R R Martin
Save yourself some pain, girl, and give him what he wants. -- George R R Martin
I am afraid but I must be brave -- George R R Martin
As the next thousand years unfold - and the thousands beyond that - many more will be born, and live, and die. And history will continue to unfold, as strange and complex and compelling as what my humble pen was able to lay before you -- George R R Martin
Unfortunately in television, for whatever reason, fantasy became thought of as a kids' genre. -- George R R Martin
Like all tales, it takes on the attributes that make it most appealing to those who tell it. -- George R R Martin
The cheese will be served when I want it served, and I want it served now. -- George R R Martin
The truth is in our bones, for flesh decays and bone endures. -- George R R Martin
My enemies are legion. -- George R R Martin
The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome. -- George R R Martin
Make no choice, and you have chosen. Failure to decide, because you lack the right, is itself a decision, First Councilor. In abstaining, you vote. -- George R R Martin
I hope his sword is quicker than his wits. The day may come that Tommen has some need of it. -- George R R Martin
The nights are too long,' he told Missandei, 'and there is much and more to do, always. -- George R R Martin
This wind's like to push us off the Wall, and I never did learn the knack of flying. They -- George R R Martin
All night i have been making songs for you in my head. A lay for your eyes, a ballad for your lips, a duet to your breasts. I will ot sing them, through. They were poor things, unworthy of such beauty. -- George R R Martin
He could feel the eyes of the dead. They were all listening, he knew. And winter was coming. -- George R R Martin
The Drowned God plays savage japes upon us all, but men are crueler still. -- George R R Martin
There is sitting and there is sitting. ( ... ) Each one waits for the other to move, but the lion is poised, his tail twitching, while the fawn is frozen by fear, bowels turned to belly. No matter which way he bounds, the lion will have him, and he knows it. -- George R R Martin
I had this desire to see the world. I couldn't see any of it, but I saw it in my imagination, and that's why I always read books, and I could go to Mars or Middle Earth or the Hyborian age. -- George R R Martin
Is this Dornish wine?" Tyrion asked him once, as he pulled a stopper from a skin. "It reminds me of a certain snake I knew. A droll fellow, till a mountain fell on him. -- George R R Martin
I drink and I know things. -- George R R Martin
If I die, I die friendless and abandoned. What choice did that leave him, but to live? -- George R R Martin
Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, and age for gods and heroes. -- George R R Martin
Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon. - Illyrio Mopatis -- George R R Martin
So now you are a woman. Do you have the least idea of what that means?
It means that I am now fit to be wedded and bedded ( ... ) and to bear children for the king. -- George R R Martin
Surely the Gods did not bring me safe through fire and sea only to kill me with a flux. -- George R R Martin
I value my privacy, and if sometimes my actions seem strange or arbitrary or capricious, I do not want them challenged. -- George R R Martin
Grieve for your friend, but never blame yourself. -- George R R Martin
It is always dark where I am, so why should I fear the darkness? -- George R R Martin
A clever fool and a foolish wise man. -- George R R Martin
Dreams can lie, your Grace. -- George R R Martin
Men are such faithless creatures -- George R R Martin
Blood is the seal of our devotion -- George R R Martin
He is a rare bird,' the maester said. 'Most ravens will eat grain, but they prefer flesh. It makes them strong, and I fear they relish the taste of blood. In that they are like men ... and like men, not all ravens are alike. -- George R R Martin
King Joffrey and King Robb and King Stannis were forgotten, and King Bread ruled alone. -- George R R Martin
A broken sword can be reforged. -- George R R Martin
I must not sleep. If he slept, he might dream. -- George R R Martin
I can't command you to be brave, but I can command you to hide your fears. -- George R R Martin
They're both bungholes who think they're too noble to shit, -- George R R Martin
Jon lied ... loudly, as if that could make it true. -- George R R Martin
The white horse and the black one wheeled like lovers at a harvest dance, the riders throwing steel in place of kisses. -- George R R Martin
Mercy, thought Theon as Luwin dropped back. There's a bloody trap. Too much and
they call you weak, too little and you're monstrous. -- George R R Martin
Stop whimpering and snapping at me, I'm sick of it. Keep your mouth shut and do as I tell you, and maybe we'll even be in time for your uncle's bloody wedding. -- George R R Martin
I don't want to have a dozen sons," she had told him, appalled. "I want to have adventures" ~Asha Greyjoy -- George R R Martin
The maesters may believe what they wish. Ask a woods witch if you would know the truth. The grey death sleeps, only to wake again. The child is not clean! -- George R R Martin
Nothing someone says before the word 'but' really counts. -- George R R Martin
Equity is often difficult to judge, and still more difficult to achieve, -- George R R Martin
There will be pain." (Qyburn)
"I'll scream." (Jaime Lannister)
"A great deal of pain." (Qyburn)
"I'll scream very loudly." Jaime Lannister) -- George R R Martin
You ought to be blowing me kisses, wench. -- George R R Martin
I am alive, and drunk on sunlight. -- George R R Martin
There are no men like me
only me. Jaime Lannister -- George R R Martin
When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives. -- George R R Martin
You'll think of me every time you go to bed. Then you'll get hard and you'll have no one to help you and you'll never be able to sleep unless you-" She grinned that wicked grin Tyrion liked so well. "-is that why they call it the Tower of the Hand, m'lord? -- George R R Martin
You will need to be brave and strong ... and patient, patient above all. -- George R R Martin
Her name is Brienne. Brienne, the maid of Tarth. You are still maiden, I hope?"
"Yes."
"Oh, good. I only rescue maidens. -- George R R Martin
On the gallows tree, all men are brothers. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind, Brienne told herself. They cannot hurt you. Let them wash over you. -- George R R Martin
Some people hurt others just because they can. -- George R R Martin
I prefer my history dead. Dead history is writ in ink, the living sort in blood. -- George R R Martin
Crows will fight over a dead man's flesh and kill each other for his eyes. -- George R R Martin
If I was a soldier going to war, I'd be pretty scared the night before a battle. It's a scary thing. And I want my readers to feel that fear as they turn the page. -- George R R Martin
Remain if you will, but know that we shall require your obedience. -- George R R Martin
Cunt" and "traitor" were flung at her as well, and now and -- George R R Martin
Know the men who follow you and let them know you. Don't ask your men to die for a stranger. -- George R R Martin
Some men are born to be killed. -- George R R Martin
Every inn in the city is full, and the whores are walking bowlegged and jingling with each step. -- George R R Martin
Common boys fight with wooden swords too, only theirs are sticks and broken branches. -- George R R Martin
Paying the iron price. -- George R R Martin
A man who won't listen can't hear. -- George R R Martin
No good came from silence either. -- George R R Martin
I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings. -- George R R Martin
You know nothing, Jon Snow. I'm half a fish, I'll have you know. -- George R R Martin
Then Royce's parry came a beat too late. The pale sword bit through the ringmail beneath his arm. The young Lord cried out in pain. Blood welled between the rings. It seemed red as fire where they touched the snow. -- George R R Martin
Fiery peppers and strange spices heat the blood, she cannot help herself. -- George R R Martin
It should have been you, she told him. Then she turned back to Bran and began to weep, -- George R R Martin
D'you remember that cave? We should have stayed in that cave. I told you so. -- George R R Martin
Redwyne does not give a fig, he thought, but Rowan looks fit to gag. -- George R R Martin
A long summer always meant a long winter to come. -- George R R Martin
My biggest dream was to ruin the lives of my readers and crush their souls ... And I really think that worked out pretty well for me. -- George R R Martin
Easy to say, and harder to do. -- George R R Martin
Maybe he had fallen asleep out in the snows and dreamed himself a safe, warm place. -- George R R Martin
I've been very lucky. There were times when I was afraid I would never sell another book, but I never doubted I'd write another book. -- George R R Martin
Empathetic silence is one of the most underused weapons in the world. -- George R R Martin
Tell him he should be pleased. As many times as I've fucked you, you're likely with child. It's not every man who has the honor of raising a king's bastard. She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there. -- George R R Martin
She stood before him naked as her name day, and he was as hard as the rock around them. -- George R R Martin
Give a thing a name and it will somehow come to be. -- George R R Martin
The man looked over at the woman. "The things I do for love," he said with loathing. He gave Bran a shove. -- George R R Martin
The grey sheep have closed their eyes, but the mastiff sees the truth. Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes. -- George R R Martin
No beast was as noisy as man. -- George R R Martin
Only a fool would ever claim she was more beautiful than I. The world was full of fools, however. -- George R R Martin
For some men to be great, others must be enslaved. -- George R R Martin
He won the war on the battlefield and lost it in a bedchamber, poor fool. -- George R R Martin
Better a long life as a squire than a shore one as a soiled knight. -- George R R Martin
Old Nan told him a story about a bad little boy who climbed too high and was struck down by lightning, and how afterward the crows came to peck out his eyes. -- George R R Martin
He'd told her that young girls were always happiest with older men. Innocence and experience make for a perfect marriage. -- George R R Martin
A lord must learn that sometimes words can accomplish what swords cannot. -- George R R Martin
War should not be a game. -- George R R Martin
Boys might play with swords, but it took a lord to make a marriage pact, knowing what it meant. -- George R R Martin
Keep friends at your back and foes where you can see them. -- George R R Martin
Hard things only grow harder if you put them off. -- George R R Martin
The brave man slays with a sword, the craven with a wineskin. -- George R R Martin
He was a bee in a stone honeycomb, and someone had cut off his wings. -- George R R Martin
I beg you both, take heart.'(Varys)
'Whose?' asked Tyrion sourly. He could think of several tempting choices. -- George R R Martin
Kings are supposed to put the realm before their sisters. -- George R R Martin
A man could not always be where he belonged, though. -- George R R Martin
This is an evil dream, she thought. But if she were dreaming, why did it hurt so much?
She tried to ask the shadows, but they did not answer. Perhaps they did not hear her. Perhaps they were not real. -- George R R Martin
A sword of fire! It burns! It burns! A sword of fire! -- George R R Martin
She might have wept then, had not the sky begun to do it for her. -- George R R Martin
The letter ... What did your lords make of it, I wonder?"
Stannis snorted. "Celtigar pronounced it admirable. If I showed him the contents of my privy, he would declare that admirable as well. -- George R R Martin
If you do shit gold, Father, find a privy and get busy, he wanted to say, but he knew better.
Tyrion Lannister -- George R R Martin
There's nothing half so mortal as a grey goose feather. -- George R R Martin
At least you look at my face. I'll give you that, you little she-wolf. How do you like it?" "I don't. It's all burned and ugly. -- George R R Martin
A snail hides in his shell. -- George R R Martin
Small wonder he refused to marry. Why buy a cow when there were udders all around begging to be milked? -- George R R Martin
You are an honest and honorable man, Lord Eddard. Ofttimes I forget that. I have met so few of them in my life." He glanced around the cell. "When I see what honesty and honor have won you, I understand why. -- George R R Martin
When Maester Aemon heard him sing, he said his voice was honey poured over thunder. -- George R R Martin
They make things up." "They do," said Maester Aemon, "but even the most fanciful song may hold a kernel of truth. Find that truth -- George R R Martin
He understood the way that you could sometimes fall right into them, as if each page was a hole into another world. -- George R R Martin
Half of the Ullers are half-mad, the saying went, and the other half are worse. -- George R R Martin
The world was full of cravens who pretended to be heroes; it took a queer sort of courage to admit to cowardice ... -- George R R Martin
You win or you die. -- George R R Martin
A fair bargain leaves both sides unhappy. -- George R R Martin
Spare me," he begged. "I do not want to die." "Few do. Yet all men die, regardless. -- George R R Martin
May the Father judge him justly. -- George R R Martin
Another black dragon, he thought. Another Blackfyre Rebellion. And soon another Redgrass field. The grass was not red when the sun came up. -- George R R Martin
Being randy is the next best thing to being drunk. -- George R R Martin
The crow commands, the captive must obey. -- George R R Martin
He should have stayed a frog. Not all men are meant to dance with dragons. -- George R R Martin
In my experience, eloquent men are right every bit as often as imbeciles. -- George R R Martin
I may be an old fat woman, but I do not have cheese between my ears, Jaime. -- George R R Martin
A man who has survived a hundred fights can break in his hundred-and-first. -- George R R Martin
I know that eggs do well to stay out of frying pans. -- George R R Martin
All my memories are poisoned -- George R R Martin
The day was grey and bitter cold, and the dogs would not take the scent. -- George R R Martin
It's dangerous being free, but most come to like the taste o' it. -- George R R Martin
Do you want to die old and craven in your bed?- How else? Though not till I'm done reading. -- George R R Martin
Can a bird hate? Jon had slain the wildling Orell, but some part of the man remained within the eagle. The golden eyes looked out on him with cold malevolence. -- George R R Martin
I am queen of the Seven Kingdoms, not a brood mare! -- George R R Martin
The Lannister woman is our queen, and her pride is said to grow with every passing year. -- George R R Martin
Words are like arrows, Arianne. Once loosed, you cannot call them back. - Areo Hotah -- George R R Martin
Those are brave men... lets go kill them -- George R R Martin
The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. -- George R R Martin
Prince Doran had closed the draperies of his litter as soon as the Spear Tower came in sight, yet still the small folk shouted out to him as the litter passed. The Sand Snakes have stirred them to a boil, the captain thought uneasily. -- George R R Martin
But it did no good to brood on lost battles and roads not taken. -- George R R Martin
- Some men think because they are afraid to do.
- There is a difference between fear and caution. -- George R R Martin
Every man's a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players. -- George R R Martin
Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories. -- George R R Martin
What is dead can never die. -- George R R Martin
She tried so hard to be brave, to be fierce as a wolverine and all, but sometimes she felt like she was just a little girl after all. -- George R R Martin
The queen smiled as she lay her head upon the pillow. When I kissed her cheek, I could taste the salt of her tears. -- George R R Martin
Tears aren't a woman's only weapon. -- George R R Martin
Cersei is as gentle as King Maegor, as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys. -- George R R Martin
The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Gregor, Ser Amory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei. -- George R R Martin
How I have yearned for the sound of your sweet voice," Tyrion sighed to her. "How I have yearned to have that eunuch's tongue pulled out with hot pincers," Cersei replied. -- George R R Martin
Truly, sister, you were born to be a widow. (Tyrion to Cersei) -- George R R Martin
Why has no one come to pry me out of here?
- Cersei -- George R R Martin
I am told that removing the head from the body is often mortal. Cersei -- George R R Martin
I love you too, sweet sister. But you're a fool. A beautiful golden fool. -- George R R Martin
He'll need a good beating from time to time. Be careful o' his teeth, though. He bites. -- George R R Martin
Will he now? We'll see. You tell him this, m'lord. You tell him he's bound on marching the wrong way. It's north he should be taking his swords. North, not south. You hear me? -- George R R Martin
The rising sun sent fingers of light through the pale white mists of dawn. -- George R R Martin
He could not even get off his own horse, except to fall. -- George R R Martin
The greatest fools are ofttimes more clever than the men who laugh at them. -- George R R Martin
That's pretty. He remembered Sansa telling him once that he should say that whenever a lady told him her name. -- George R R Martin
The gods mock the prayers of kings and cowherds alike. -- George R R Martin
The Drowned Gods makes men," old Aaron Redhand said, "thousands of years ago." "But it's men who make crowns. -- George R R Martin
What was he doing that they had to kill him?" "Asking questions, -- George R R Martin
No man is free. Only children and fools think elsewise. -- George R R Martin
Trust no one. And keep your dragon close. -- George R R Martin
The third wed the Lord of the Paps, but proved barren. -- George R R Martin
Never speak of defeat before battle. -- George R R Martin
Choose. Fly or die. -- George R R Martin
When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it -- George R R Martin
Everything you see or hear reminds you of something you saw or heard when you were young. -- George R R Martin
How they loved to promise heads, these men who would be king. -- George R R Martin
Theon swept his cloak off its peg and over his shoulders. "Fathers are like that," he admitted as he pinned the folds with a silver clasp. "Tell him he should be pleased. As many times as I've fucked you, you're likely with child. It's not every man who has the honor of raising a king's bastard. -- George R R Martin
Is there any creature on earth as unfortunate as an ugly woman? (wonders Lady Catelyn Stark) -- George R R Martin
The dungeons are windowless. One hour is much like another down there, and for me, all hours are midnight. -- George R R Martin
There is an empty place within me where my heart once was. -- George R R Martin
Fear can fever a man's mind and give him queer thoughts. -- George R R Martin
Anyone can be killed."
- Arya Stark -- George R R Martin
One more page, then I'll go up and rest and get a bite to eat. -- George R R Martin
Dead, all dead but me, and I am dead to the world. -- George R R Martin
And whispered "Kingslayer" behind his back. Jon found it hard to look away from him. This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed. Then -- George R R Martin
Better to live shamed than die proud. -- George R R Martin
Jon lowered his sword. "Go," he muttered.
Ygritte stared.
"Now," he said, "before my wits return. Go."
She went. -- George R R Martin
Life would be much simpler if men could fuck themselves, don't you agree? -- George R R Martin
I count no day as lived unless I have loved a woman, slain a foeman, and eaten a fine meal . . . and the days that I have lived are as numberless as the stars in the sky. -- George R R Martin
So they will not love, for love is the bane of honour, the death of duty. -- George R R Martin
Is he blind, or merely stupid?"
"He is honorable. Sometimes it amounts to the same thing. -- George R R Martin
Life is not a song, sweetling. You may learn that one day to your sorrow. -- George R R Martin
The song is sung, the wine is spilled, the wench is pregnant. And this is not as dire as it seems, in truth. -- George R R Martin
We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. -- George R R Martin
He is here. Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk. He has been trained in -- George R R Martin
The trap had teeth. -- George R R Martin
She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur. Shortly, Jory brought him Ice. When -- George R R Martin
It was not a silence, just a quiet, the indrawn breath that comes before the shout. -- George R R Martin
As Faulkner says, all of us have the capacity in us for great good and for great evil, for love but also for hate. I wanted to write those kinds of complex character in a fantasy, and not just have all the good people get together to fight the bad guy. -- George R R Martin
You may dress an ironman in silks and velvets, teach him to read and write and give him books, instruct him in chivalry and courtesy and the mysteries of the Faith," writes Archmaester Haereg, "but when you look into his eyes, the sea will still be there, cold and grey and cruel. -- George R R Martin
Wine makes all things possible. -- George R R Martin
He had found over the years that silence sometimes yielded more than questions. And so it was this time. -- George R R Martin
The drapes kept out the dust and heat of the streets, but they could not keep out disappointment. Dany -- George R R Martin
If every woman had a direwolf, men would be much sweeter. -- George R R Martin
You're like one of those birds from the Summer Isles, aren't you? A pretty little talking bird, repeating all the pretty little words they taught you to recite. -- George R R Martin
A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward. -- George R R Martin
He had to remember that. I must not let him drive me mad. He can take my fingers and my toes, he can put out my eyes and slice my ears off, but he cannot take my wits unless I let him. -- George R R Martin
Ser Barristan wrinkled up his nose, and said, Your Grace should not be here, breathing these black humors. -- George R R Martin
The truth of it is, writers do have peculiar relationships with their characters. They are our children in more senses than one. They are born of our imaginations, carry much of ourselves in them, and embody whatever dreams we dream of immortality. -- George R R Martin
His father took off the man's head with a single sure stroke. Blood sprayed out across the snow, as red as summerwine. -- George R R Martin
Start trying to work out who deserves what, and before long you'll spend the rest of your days weeping for each and every person in the world. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind - Tyrion Lannister. -- George R R Martin
I think that, in all of my time, I got just one fan letter, from an NFL fullback named Darian Barnes. NFL players might not have enough time for my books. -- George R R Martin
No man can stand before the sun of my life, -- George R R Martin
They've heard the songs and stories, so they go off with eager hearts, dreaming of the wonders they will see, of the wealth and glory they will win. War seems a fine adventure, the greatest most of them will ever know. Then they get a taste of battle. -- George R R Martin
Curt letters, Lord Balon had written of his youngest -- George R R Martin
The night is dark and filled with terrors, -- George R R Martin
The Hand speaks with the King's voice. -- George R R Martin
A fool sings what he will, the master told his anxious princess, You must not take his word to heart. On the morrow he may remember another song and this one will never be heard again. -- George R R Martin
Dogs and wolves and lions, may the Others take them all. -- George R R Martin
Just once you might try to give me an answer that would please me, Lord Snow. -- George R R Martin
Salt a slug shame a here, and they shrink right up. -- George R R Martin
Arya leaned close and whispered, "Chiswyck," right in Jaqen's ear. -- George R R Martin
Have you ever considered that too many answers are the same as no answers at all? - Tyrion -- George R R Martin
To help me to my grave. I asked for you to leave. Will you make me call my gaolers and have you dragged away, you vile, scheming, evil bitch? -- George R R Martin
Once the cow's been milked there's no squirting the cream back up her udder. -- George R R Martin
A sword needs a sheath, heh, and a wedding needs a bedding. -- George R R Martin
Jon relished the stories they were telling, tales of battle and bedding and the hunt. He -- George R R Martin
I have made more mistakes than you can possibly imagine," Ned said, "but that was not one of them. -- George R R Martin
I have a hole where my heart should be, she thought, and nowhere else to go. -- George R R Martin
The Lord of Light in his wisdom made us male and female, two parts of a greater whole. In our joining there is power. Power to make life. Power to make light. Power to cast shadows. -- George R R Martin
Wisdom oft comes from the mouth of babes. -- George R R Martin
His lips were as soft and red as the worms you found after a rain, and his eyes were vain and cruel. "I hate you," she whispered. -- George R R Martin
And the mystery knight should defeat all challengers and name the wolf maid the queen of love and beauty. -- George R R Martin
These wolves are more than wolves, Robb. You must know that. I think perhaps the gods sent them to us. Your father's gods, the old gods of the north. Five wolf pups, Robb, five for five Stark children. -- George R R Martin
My first rule of war, Cat-never give the enemy his wish -- George R R Martin
Whatever you do, make certain that your hands are clean. -- George R R Martin
King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. -- George R R Martin
If instead you feed the wolf and tame him and turn his pups into your guard dogs, they will protect the flocks when the pack comes ravening. -- George R R Martin
A siege is a deadly dull. -- George R R Martin
Stannis knows who Aemon is. If the red woman requires king's blood for her spells ... -- George R R Martin
Aemon ... Targaryen! Jon could scarcely believe it. -- George R R Martin
Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. -- George R R Martin
Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well. -- George R R Martin
Fuck your lineage," said Gerris. "The dragons won't care about your blood, except maybe how it tastes. You cannot tame a dragon with a history lesson. They're monsters, not maesters. Quent, is this truly what you want to do? -- George R R Martin
Mine is the blood of the dragon. -- George R R Martin
I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I. -- George R R Martin
When you play a game of thrones you win or you die. -- George R R Martin
The godswife thought her a child, but children grow, and children learn. -- George R R Martin
Everyone knew that bastards were wanton and treacherous by nature, having been born of lust and deceit. -- George R R Martin
The only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy. -- George R R Martin
You're asking a lame man to teach a cripple how to dance, Tyrion said. -- George R R Martin
The answer is flying not crying ... Every flight begins with a fall. -- George R R Martin
a noose will serve. Ser Alliser, -- George R R Martin
Pain is the price of power. -- George R R Martin
A little brother may live to be a hundred, but he will always be a little brother. -- George R R Martin
I am Asha of House Greyjoy, aye. Opinions differ on whether I'm a lady. -- George R R Martin
You are the Lady Asha of House Greyjoy, unless I am mistaken."
"I am Asha of House Greyjoy, aye. Opinions differ on whether I am a lady. -- George R R Martin
May, said Dany. That was such a slippery word, may. In any language. -- George R R Martin
There are writers, and I know some of them, who are very disciplined. Who write, like, four pages a day, every day. And it doesn't matter if their dog got run over by a car that day, or they won the Irish sweepstakes. I'm not one of those writers. -- George R R Martin
What can the mind be made of, if not memories? Who are we, after all? Only who we think we are, no more, no less. -- George R R Martin
I thank you for calling them off, young ser. I promise you, they would have found me indigestible. -- George R R Martin
If you step in a nest of snakes, does it matter who bites you first? -- George R R Martin
Courage and folly are cousins, or so I've heard. -- George R R Martin
If you can't protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can. -- George R R Martin
She went to the window seat and sat there, sniffling, hating them all, and herself most of all. It was all her fault, everything bad that had happened. -- George R R Martin
Many have served Him of Many Faces through the centuries, but only a few of His servants have been women. Women bring life into the world. We bring the gift of death. No one can do both. -- George R R Martin
For men, the answer was always the same and never farther away than the nearest sword. For a woman, a mother, the way was stonier and harder to know. -- George R R Martin
You're mine," she whispered. "Mine, as I'm yours. And if we die, we die. All men must die, Jon Snow. But first, we'll live. -- George R R Martin
The fine stitching and well-carded wool of his supposedly unobtrusive cloak making him stand out like blood on a wedding dress. -- George R R Martin
His chains chinked softly. I seldom fling children from towers to improve their health. Yes, I meant for him to die. -- George R R Martin
The rat squealed as he bit into it, squirming wildly in his hands, frantic to escape. -- George R R Martin
One-and-twenty sorts of birds," said Ser Kyle.
"One-and-twenty sorts of bird droppings," said Ser Maynard.
"You have no poetry in your heart, ser."
"You have shit upon your shoulder. -- George R R Martin
I know nothing and perhaps I never will, -- George R R Martin
Inform him that he does not have my leave to die. - Cercei Lannister -- George R R Martin
She walked fast, to keep ahead of her fear, and it felt as though Syrio Forel walked beside her, and Yoren, and Jaqen H'ghar, and Jon Snow. -- George R R Martin
Whoever Jon's mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away. -- George R R Martin
Is that true?
There is truth in it.
And lies as well?
There is an untruth, and an exaggeration. -- George R R Martin
-[ ... ]what did the bearded queen have to say?
-Her Grace can provide no help.
-Too busy plucking out her chin hairs, is she? -- George R R Martin
Every dwarf is a bastard in his father's eyes. -- George R R Martin
Dreams are what we have. -- George R R Martin
Some doors are best left closed. -- George R R Martin
My father is an old man, my lord. Well past forty. His fighting days are done. -- George R R Martin
Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He'll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he's copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day. -- George R R Martin
should be enough," said Robb. "You will have command of my rear guard, Lord Bolton. I mean to start for the Neck as soon as my uncle has been wedded and bedded. We're going home. -- George R R Martin
Drunks they may be, but a drunken man knows not fear. Fools, aye, but a fool can kill a king. Rats, that too, but a thousand rats can bring down a bear. -- George R R Martin
Above him loomed a grotesque fat man [ ... ] His bedrobe was large enough to serve as a tourney pavilion, but its loosely knotted belt had come undone, exposing a huge white belly and a pair of heavy breasts that sagged like sacks of suet covered with coarse yellow hair. -- George R R Martin
If he didn't talk about it, maybe he would forget. He had never wanted to remember. It might not even be a true remembering." - Bran -- George R R Martin
My sleeve is torn and my breeches are unaccountably damp, but nothing was harmed save my dignity. -- George R R Martin
Ruins can be rebuilt. -- George R R Martin
Look or be devoured. -- George R R Martin
You look different now. Like a proper little girl."
"I look like an oak tree, with all these stupid acorns."
"Nice, though. A nice oak tree. -- George R R Martin
If you need help bark like a dog." - Gendry.
"That's stupid. If I need help I'll shout help." - Arya -- George R R Martin
An honest kiss, a little kindness, everyone deserves that much, however big or small. -- George R R Martin
The funeral procession departed King's Landing -- George R R Martin
I could have written a story about a well-adjusted family. Ned Stark comes down to King's Landing and takes over and solves all their problems. Would that have been as exciting? -- George R R Martin
Men fight more fiercely for a king who shares their peril than one who hides behind his mother's skirts. -- George R R Martin
So Ned bent his head and wrote, but where the king had said "my son Joffrey," he scrawled "my heir" instead. -- George R R Martin
There is power in a King's blood. -- George R R Martin
The King in the North!" "The King in the North!" "THE KING IN THE NORTH! -- George R R Martin
A wise man never makes an enemy of a king. -- George R R Martin
Trying to remember was like trying to catch the rain with her fingers. -- George R R Martin
He has an old man's caution and a young man's ambition, and has never lacked for cunning. -- George R R Martin
Drowning was bad enough. But drowning sad and sober, that's too cruel. -- George R R Martin
Why should death make a man truthful, or even clever? The dead are likely dull fellows, full of tedious complaints - the ground's too cold, my gravestone should be larger, why does he get more worms than I do ... -- George R R Martin
A man can bear most anything, if he must, -- George R R Martin
I think he is a giant among us, here at the end of the world. -- George R R Martin
She is not truly beautiful but something about her draws the eye. -- George R R Martin
The night was rank with the smell of man. -- George R R Martin
It was justice," Stannis said. "A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward. You were a hero and a smuggler. -- George R R Martin
A lady's armor is courtesy -- George R R Martin
The only game. The game of thrones. -- George R R Martin
He might as well wish for another thousand men, and maybe a dragon or three. -- George R R Martin
Better a beggar than a thief. -- George R R Martin
We will have it tanned and stuffed and sell it for a fortune. A dwarf's cock has magical powers."
"I have been telling all the women that for years. -- George R R Martin
Knowledge could be more valuable than gold, more deadly than a dagger. -- George R R Martin
His wits have gone dark as his eyes -- George R R Martin
and all his smiles belong to her and her alone. -- George R R Martin
The shadows come to dance my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord. The shadows come to stay my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord ... -- George R R Martin
Direwolf dead in the snow, a broken antler in its throat. -- George R R Martin
A man agrees with god as a raindrop with the storm. -- George R R Martin
The fire that burns against the cold. -- George R R Martin
Never wound a foe when you can kill him. Dead men don't claim vengeance. -- George R R Martin
There is no wine so sweet as wine taken from a foe. -- George R R Martin
Ice can kill as dead as fire. -- George R R Martin
They bought clams and cockles from her, told her true tales of Braavos and lies about their lives, and laughed at the way she talked when she tried to speak Braavosi. -- George R R Martin
And what lesson can we draw from Volantene history?"
"If you want to conquer the world, you best have dragons. -- George R R Martin
She even smells like sin, like some exotic lotus. -- George R R Martin
Innocent or guilty, a Lannister pays his debts. -- George R R Martin
But her eyes were the most terrible thing. Her eyes saw him, and they hated. -- George R R Martin
Some lies are love. -- George R R Martin
Dying is not dead. -- George R R Martin
Much that may seem evil can be good. -- George R R Martin
Remember, whatever the price ... I'll beat it! I like living!
Tyrion Lannister -- George R R Martin
It was an art, and like all arts it demanded mastery, discipline, study. Pain. That too. -- George R R Martin
One man on the wall is worth ten beneath it. -- George R R Martin
the man who holds the king holds the kingdom. -- George R R Martin
Inside the room, a man and a woman were wrestling. They were both naked. -- George R R Martin
The voice he did not hear, the scent without a smell. -- George R R Martin
If I look back I am lost. -- George R R Martin
Starving men take a hard view of priests too fat to walk. -- George R R Martin
Sam was almost grateful for his fleshy buttocks. Fat men take a cushion with them wherever they go, he thought. -- George R R Martin
Then these other swordsmen have the true power. Or do they? Whence came their swords? Why do they obey? -- George R R Martin
What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! -- George R R Martin
The crypt continued on into darkness ahead of them, but beyond this point the tombs were empty and unsealed; black holes waiting for their dead, waiting for him and his children. -- George R R Martin
When somebody says 'it's just a book' smile because they just don't understand. -- George R R Martin
Weddings have become more perilous than battles, it would seem. -- George R R Martin
We'll have music, such sweet music, and wine, heh, the red will run, and we'll put some wrongs aright. -- George R R Martin
And in their hands, the daggers. -- George R R Martin
Its wounds are as fresh as the wounds of the men who carved -- George R R Martin
The north is hard and cold, and has no mercy. -- George R R Martin
Brick and blood built Astapor, and brick and blood her people. -- George R R Martin
Even a freerider requires a horse to ride;sellswords must have swords to sell. -- George R R Martin
We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky. -- George R R Martin
Never ask a baker what went into a pie. Just eat. -- George R R Martin
Even in dreams, you could not fall forever. -- George R R Martin
This fool he promised me is like to be my own reflection in a pond. -- George R R Martin
Outlaws or poachers, makes no matter. Dead men make poor company. -- George R R Martin
The galleys ... had been dirven onto the rocks of Skagos, the isle of unicorns and cannibals where even the Blind Bastard had feared to land. -- George R R Martin
Can a man still be brave if he's afraid? -- George R R Martin
Death comes out of the dragon's mouth. -- George R R Martin
He went to the window seat, picked up a harp, and ran his fingers lightly over its silvery strings. Sweet sadness filled the room as man and wife and babe faded like the morning mist, only the music lingering behind to speed her on her way. -- George R R Martin
Maester Luwin taught you well, Jon Snow. Your mind is as deft as your blade, it would seem. -- George R R Martin
A thief was a thief, whether he stole a little or a lot. -- George R R Martin
I try to make the readers feel they've lived the events of the book. Just as you grieve if a friend is killed, you should grieve if a fictional character is killed. You should care. If somebody dies and you just go get more popcorn, it's a superficial experience isn't it? -- George R R Martin
the faint smell of corruption clung to it like a woman's perfume. -- George R R Martin
She bleats like a bloody sheep. -- George R R Martin
A herd of old men with shriveled balls and spotted skin and young men with ridiculous hair. -- George R R Martin
Ask yourself, if all men must grub in the dirt for food, how shall any man lift his eyes to contemplate the stars? If each of us must break his back to build a hovel, who shall raise the temples to glorify the gods? -- George R R Martin
The things I do for love, it said. Bran screamed. The crow took to the air, cawing. Not that, it shrieked at him. Forget that, you do not need it now, put it aside, put it away. It landed on Bran's shoulder, and pecked at him, and the shining golden face was gone. Bran -- George R R Martin
You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. -- George R R Martin
But sometimes the ugliest ones are the hungriest ones abed. -- George R R Martin
This was something different and deadlier: a dance where the smallest misstep meant death. -- George R R Martin
No, Your Grace. At the end a dragon hatches from an egg and devours all of the lions. -- George R R Martin
People are dumb. I'll never get over how dumb people are. -- George R R Martin
A knight's a sword with a horse. The rest, the vows and the sacred oils and the lady's favors, they're silk ribbons tied round the sword.
Maybe the sword's are prettier with ribbons hanging off it, but it will kill you just as dead. -- George R R Martin
He says that it is good luck to rub the head of a dwarf," Haldon said after an exchange with the guard in his own tongue.
Tyrion forced himself to smile at the man. "Tell him that it is even better luck to suck on a dwarf's cock. -- George R R Martin
It was easy to forget that
sometimes, when they were laughing together, or kissing. But then one of them would say something, or do something, and he would suddenly be reminded of the wall between their worlds. -- George R R Martin
Strike hard and true, crow, or I'll come back and haunt you. -- George R R Martin
Lumpyface Lumpyhead -- George R R Martin
Old books are like Old friends -- George R R Martin
And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things. -- George R R Martin
We do not choose our destinies. Yet we must ... we must do our duty, no? Great or small, we must do our duty. -- George R R Martin
The longer he lived, the more Tyrion realized that nothing was simple and little was true. -- George R R Martin
Books are dead men talking. -- George R R Martin
Though Roose had been in battles, he bore no scars. Though well past forty, he was as yet unwrinkled, with scarce a line to tell of the passage of time. -- George R R Martin
It's your gold they love, not your impish wit. -- George R R Martin
I spit upon your pity. -- George R R Martin
Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities. -- George R R Martin
Every man must die, Jon Snow. But first he must live. -- George R R Martin
Cats never weep, she told herself, no more than wolves. It's just a stupid dream. -- George R R Martin
The man is as useless as nipples on a breastplate. -- George R R Martin
He offers the honeycomb with one hand and shows the whip with the other. -- George R R Martin
I will remember, Your Grace, said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me. -- George R R Martin
Stannis had never learned to soften his speech, to dissemble or flatter; he said what he thought, and those that did not like it could be damned. -- George R R Martin
The worst isn't done. The worst is just beginning, and there are no happy endings. (Samuel Tarly) -- George R R Martin
The hero never dies, though. I must be the hero. -- George R R Martin
them? If they should come to some accord -- George R R Martin
First I anger Edmure, and now Robb, but all I have done is speak the truth. Are men so fragile they cannot bear to hear it? -- George R R Martin
She stared at them with yearning. Part of her wanted to be a swan. The other part wanted to eat one. -- George R R Martin
Contempt, thought Tyrion, the universal tongue. -- George R R Martin
Art is not a democracy. -- George R R Martin
Of course it is, thought Tyrion. The game of thrones. "As you say, Captain," he murmured, bowing once again. -- George R R Martin
I was always intensely Romantic, even when I was too young to understand what that meant. -- George R R Martin
I'd let his whole khalasar fuck you if need be, sweet sister, all forty thousand men and their horses too if that was what it took to get my army ... -- George R R Martin
Viserys could not sweep a stable with ten thousand brooms. -- George R R Martin
His anger was a terrible thing when roused. Viserys called it waking the dragon. -- George R R Martin
Would that I had wings as well. -- George R R Martin
Winter storms are worse, but autumn's are more frequent. -- George R R Martin
a cloud of black-and-orange butterflies for the Mullendores. -- George R R Martin
It is one thing to be clever and another to be wise. -- George R R Martin
Madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land. -- George R R Martin
No ruler can make a people good. -- George R R Martin
I remember love vaguely, I think I can recall what it was like, and I remember that it never lasts. -- George R R Martin
They know nothing, Ygritte. And worse, they will not learn. -- George R R Martin
The eunuch had looked death in the face, so near he might have kissed her on the lips. -- George R R Martin
If it were easy all men would do it. -- George R R Martin
Tommen looked back to Ser Kevan. "Can I seal them now, Great-Uncle?" Pressing his royal seal into the hot wax was his favorite part of being king, so far. -- George R R Martin
Every fool loves to hear that he's important -- George R R Martin
Lions care not for the opinions of sheep. -- George R R Martin
Let us not get into the habit of names. Names are dangerous. -- George R R Martin
Secrets are worth more than silver and sapphires. -- George R R Martin
I loved a maid fair as summer, with sunlight in her hair. -- George R R Martin
Farms and holdfasts grew scarcer and smaller as they pressed northward, ever deeper into the darkness of the wolfswood, until finally there were no more roofs to shelter under, and they were thrown back on their own resources. -- George R R Martin
They do not expect the north to believe their lies, not truly, but they think we must pretend to believe or die. -- George R R Martin
I can be humbler than anyone. -- George R R Martin
I heard of a man who had a razor made of Valyrian steel. He cut his head off trying to shave. -- George R R Martin
A shy smile, strong arms, clever fingers, and two sure swords. What more could any woman want? -- George R R Martin
I would sooner be flesh and blood than silks and jewels. -- George R R Martin
The wolf pup loved her, even if no one else did. -- George R R Martin
We all dream of things we cannot have. -- George R R Martin
Writing is hard. I mean, I sit there and work at it. -- George R R Martin
When the choice is debt or death, best borrow. -- George R R Martin
Monsters are entirely mythological, sir, like spirits, werebeasts, and competent bureaucrats. -- George R R Martin
Their rusted hinges let out a pair of screams, for all those who might have slept through the breaking of the lock. -- George R R Martin
How do I play the turncloak without becoming one? -- George R R Martin
You know nothing, Jon Snow, Ygritte used to say, but he had learned. -- George R R Martin
Man's curiosity drives him to seek the answer to every question. But it's the unanswered questions that are the most exciting. -- George R R Martin
Art is not a democracy. People don't get to vote on how it ends. -- George R R Martin
The man is cold, brooding, sullen, deaf to humor. And those are his good points. -- George R R Martin
Fish never climb out of the kettle and shove a spear through your belly. -- George R R Martin
Who will I practice with? -- George R R Martin
There's a sweet sound," he said, slashing at the air. "Flap closer, Snow. I mean to make your feathers fly. -- George R R Martin
The others were far scattered, like leaves blown by the wild wind. -- George R R Martin
Why would you take so much bloody interest in where I put my cock? - Tyrion Lannister -- George R R Martin
Those are brave men," he told Ser Balon in admiration. "Let's go kill them. -- George R R Martin
Make no mistake, dwarf. I fought for you, but I do not love you'
'It was your blade I needed' Tyrion said, 'not your love. -- George R R Martin
Tyrion Lannister knew the maps as well as anyone, but a fortnight on the wild track that passed for the kingsroad up here -- George R R Martin
I am only a little lion, child, and I vow, I shall not savage you. -- George R R Martin
Lady, she whimpered softly, wondering if she would meet her wolf again when she was dead. -- George R R Martin
First rule, stick them with the pointy end! -- George R R Martin
I did not come here to eat fruit. Stannis was fuming. -- George R R Martin
The ones who look the most suspicious are likely innocent. It's the ones who look innocent I need to beware. -- George R R Martin
My old septon used to say that books are dead men talking. -- George R R Martin
All halls lead somewhere. Where there is a way in, there is a way out. Fear cuts deeper than swords.
-Arya Stark -- George R R Martin
That was the way of this cold world, where men fished the sea and dug in the ground and died, whilst women brought forth short-lived children from beds of blood and pain. -- George R R Martin
Bones were bones; these days, nothing was easier to come by. -- George R R Martin
In his youth, Jon Connington had shared the disdain most knights had for bowmen, but he had grown wiser in exile. -- George R R Martin
Ser Jorah was not a handsome man. He had a neck and shoulders like a bull, and coarse black hair covered his arms and chest so thickly that there was none left for his head. -- George R R Martin
So be it. I'll wear my iron and hold my tongue. A man who won't listen can't hear. -- George R R Martin
Had been asleep for four or five hours. His head ached, and the back -- George R R Martin
It is being common-born that is dangerous, when the great lords play their game of thrones. -- George R R Martin
I have a huge emotional attachment to characters I've created, especially the viewpoint characters. -- George R R Martin
Sacrifice is never easy or it is no true sacrifice. - Stannis -- George R R Martin
It is hard to look a hero when mounted on a pig. -- George R R Martin
... a queen belongs to her people, not to herself. -- George R R Martin
I will gladly trade his freedom for a father. Have you one to give me? -- George R R Martin
His stomach could not tolerate the snails and lampreys and other rich food Captain Khorane so relished, and after his first meal at the captain's table he spent the rest of the day with one end or the other dangling over the rail. -- George R R Martin
The High Septon once told me that as we sin, so do we suffer. -- George R R Martin
I used to think that it got cold up in the Dornish Marches. What did I know? Nothing, thought Jon Snow, the same as me. -- George R R Martin
But peasant's pride is lordling's shame. -- George R R Martin
The arms of Tarth were quartered rose and azure, and bore a yellow sun and crescent moon. -- George R R Martin
One flesh, one heart, one soul. -- George R R Martin
Every blade of grass was craved from emerald, every drip of water turned to diamond -- George R R Martin
A dead enemy is a joy forever -- George R R Martin
We have won a battle, not a war -- George R R Martin
A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is. -- George R R Martin
My words lied.My eyes and my arm shouted out the truth,but you were not seeing. -- George R R Martin
The wolves will come again, said Jojen solemnly. -- George R R Martin
We take our reflections for granted all our lives, until the hour comes when our eyes search for the familiar features and find instead the image of a stranger. -- George R R Martin
There were times - not many, but a few - when Jon Snow was glad he was a bastard. -- George R R Martin
He was a veteran of a hundred rangings by now, and the endless dark wilderness that the southron called the haunted forest had no more terrors for him. -- George R R Martin
That man said he'd take your head too."
"Well, as to that," Yoren said, "if he can get it off my shoulders, he's welcome to it. -- George R R Martin
Hatred does not stir the stone men half so much as hunger. -- George R R Martin
I grew up with four T.V. channels. If you missed a show, you missed it. You gotta wait a week for the next one. I'd mail-order books: take a quarter, get an envelope, send off for it and wait until it arrived. I grew up waiting for things. -- George R R Martin
The wind cut like a knife up here, and shrilled in the night like a mother mourning her slain children. -- George R R Martin
The real issue lies in the North beyond the Wall. Stannis becomes one of the few characters fully to understand that, which is why in spite of everything he is a righteous man. -- George R R Martin
One day all men must die, but it serves no good to dwell on death. I prefer to take each day as it comes. -- George R R Martin
It was hard work to rule a kingdom, much less seven of them. -- George R R Martin
Under the sea, the fish eat us. I know, I know, oh, oh, oh. -- George R R Martin
I rose too high, loved too hard, dared too much. I tried to grasp a star, overreached, and fell. -- George R R Martin
Hard places breed hard men, and hard men rule the world. -- George R R Martin
And she would weep. When he saw tears rolling down her face, he would forgive her.
She was less certain whether she would forgive herself. -- George R R Martin
The bad part is you freeze your balls off, but since you're not allowed to breed anyway, I don't suppose that matters. -- George R R Martin
The Dornishman's wife was as fair as the sun, and her kisses were warmer than spring. But the Dornishman's blade was made of black steel, and its kiss was a terrible thing. -- George R R Martin
There's much to be said for taking people unawares. You never know what you might learn. -- George R R Martin
Too much light can hurt the eyes, my friend, and fire burns. -- George R R Martin
Why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones? -- George R R Martin
Oxtail soup, summer greens tossed with pecans, grapes, red fennel, and crumbled cheese, hot crab pie, spiced squash, and quails drowned in butter. -- George R R Martin
There are no shadows in the dark. -- George R R Martin
So spare me your envy. It was the gods who neglected to give you a cock, not me. -- George R R Martin
The sea is colder than a maiden and crueler than a whore. -- George R R Martin
Never drink with Dornishmen when the moon is full. -- George R R Martin
If H. P. Lovecraft and H. L. Mencken had ever collaborated, they might have come up with something like The Edge of Reason. This one will delight thinkers-and outrage true believers-of all stripes. -- George R R Martin
She always said that it didn't matter what your voice was like so long as you loved the song. -- George R R Martin
Men are men, vows are words, and words are wind. -- George R R Martin
All men must die. We are but death's instruments, not death himself. -- George R R Martin
Jon: Have you seen the wall? | Sam: I'm fat, not blind. -- George R R Martin
One of the hardest parts of writing is writing from the gut or the heart or something like that rather than intellectually. -- George R R Martin
Summer grass," Jaime told his cousin. "Old Sumner Crakehall -- George R R Martin
Osha," Bran asked as they crossed the yard. "Do you know the way north? To the Wall and ... and even past?" "The way's easy. Look for the Ice Dragon, and chase the blue star in the rider's eye. -- George R R Martin
Clean hands, Sansa. Whatever you do, make certain your hands are clean. -- George R R Martin
Some words are wind, ser. Some are treason. -- George R R Martin
Oh, so poignant' said Varys. 'And yet, it is truly said that blood runs truer than oaths -- George R R Martin
fools believe in foolish things. -- George R R Martin
His eyes were open wounds beneath his heavy brows, a blue as dark as the sea by night. -- George R R Martin
And the crow once called the raven black. -- George R R Martin
Only man stripped the skins from other beasts and wore their hides and hair. -- George R R Martin
We've changed kins since then, some of us twice. No one cares, no one remembers. -- George R R Martin
Sing a song if you like."
"Aloud?"
"In your head. -- George R R Martin
Such a happy sound, it makes me want to scoop out someone's eyeballs with a spoon. -- George R R Martin
Under the sea the old fish eat the young fish. -- George R R Martin
White is for Starks. I'll drink red like a good Lannister. -- George R R Martin
I am the sword in the darkness. -- George R R Martin
All men carry murder in their hearts, yet even so, the poisoner is beneath contempt. -- George R R Martin
The bonds formed in boyhood can last a man for lifetime. -- George R R Martin
was saying, "what then do you ask of the throne? -- George R R Martin
Nothing tarnishes a hero as much as failure. -- George R R Martin
It is said that her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the face of the moon, but her blood and her soul and her strength and her courage all went into the steel. -- George R R Martin
Every flight begins with a fall. -- George R R Martin
I love fantasy. I grew up reading fantasy. -- George R R Martin
One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found. -- George R R Martin
Look to your khal and see what life is worth, when all the rest is gone. -- George R R Martin
Pain is a gift from the gods. -- George R R Martin
When men are starving and sick of fear, they look for a savior. -- George R R Martin
Do as they bid you ... but in your heart, remember who and what you are. -- George R R Martin
Do you have a name?" "Ygritte." Her -- George R R Martin
He wished he'd been able to think of some rousing last words. "Bugger you all" was not like to earn him much of a place in the histories. -- George R R Martin
Jon Snow, you know nothing. -- George R R Martin
You know nothing, Jon Snow." She -- George R R Martin
By the time Jon Snow signed the parchment the Braavosi drew up, both of them were half-drunk and quite unhappy. Jon thought that a good sign. -- George R R Martin
All men must die, Jon Snow. But first we'll live. -Ygritte -- George R R Martin
Jon Snow, you know nothing. You don't go in with clothes. -- George R R Martin
You know nothing John Snow
the wildling Ygritte -- George R R Martin
If there are gods, they made sheep so wolves could eat mutton, and they made the weak for the strong to play with. -- George R R Martin
Weigh every word before you speak it. -- George R R Martin
Historical fiction is not history. You're blending real events and actual historical personages with characters of your own creation. -- George R R Martin
Every building is constructed stone by stone, and the same may be said of knowledge, -- George R R Martin
Was there ever a war where only one side bled? -- George R R Martin
It's the loneliness of people trapped within themselves. The loneliness of people who have said the wrong thing so often that they don't have the courage to say anything anymore. -- George R R Martin
I thought my song was beginning that day, but it was almost done. -- George R R Martin
Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall. -- George R R Martin
Summer Islanders. That's how they mourn. They answer death with life. -- George R R Martin
Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time. -- George R R Martin
He smiled a lot, as if the world were a secret joke that only he was clever enough to understand. Robb -- George R R Martin
The hill was a stony island in a sea of green. -- George R R Martin
Men have scars, women mysteries. -- George R R Martin
Thought, it is happening, Joffrey's lost his head and -- George R R Martin
Arya never seemed to find the places she set out to reach. -- George R R Martin
Jon looked down on the scene with a frown. "Joffrey is truly a little shit," he told Arya. Ser -- George R R Martin
Cold fingers walked down Arya's neck. Fear cuts deeper than swords, she reminded herself. -- George R R Martin
As much as I love historical fiction, my problem with historical fiction is that you always know what's going to happen. -- George R R Martin
Some truths did not bear saying, and some lies were necessary. -- George R R Martin
The rest of the day seemed to creep by as slow as a worm in molasses. -- George R R Martin
Just because a man can sing about battles doesn't mean he's fit to fight one. -- George R R Martin
Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. -- George R R Martin
They would sooner be dicing, drinking, and flicking, I don't doubt, but Lord Randyll believes in putting idle men to work. -- George R R Martin
When we speak of the morrow nothing is ever certain. -- George R R Martin
The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. -- George R R Martin
Too many peoples have traveled back and forth, and too many legends and tales have mingled. -- George R R Martin
No more than he knew that the Beggar King would die young, or that Khal Drogo would follow him into the grave. Very little of what the fat man has anticipated has come to pass. -- George R R Martin
Curiosity was stronger than caution. -- George R R Martin
Did not quite believe it himself, when he woke up thinking surely this was some mad dream. -- George R R Martin
Die, the queen thought at it, in irritation, fly into the flame and be done with it. -- George R R Martin
What is dead may never die," Theon said remembering,
"What is dead may never die," his uncle echoed, "but rises again, harder and stronger. Stand. -- George R R Martin
The man seems to have been quite friendless," Tyrion said carefully. "Sadly," said Varys, "oh, sadly. You might find some kin if you turned over enough stones back -- George R R Martin
The wall defends itself. -- George R R Martin
She had been making for Riverrun for years, it seemed, without ever getting there. -- George R R Martin
Saturnine, with thin arched brows above large eyes as black and -- George R R Martin
The world is twisted beyond hope, when lowborn smugglers must vouch for the honour of kings. -- George R R Martin
May the Father judge him justly.
Now, there's an awful prospect. -- George R R Martin
You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and obedient. -- George R R Martin
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground. -- George R R Martin
The lies we tell for love, -- George R R Martin
There is magic in my universe, but it's pretty low magic compared to other fantasies. -- George R R Martin
Some illiterates held writing in disdain; others seemed to have a superstitious reverence for the written word, as if it were some sort of magic. -- George R R Martin
So do not waste my time. It is the most precious thing I have, time. It is the most precious thing any of us have. -- George R R Martin
Perhaps you should speak more softly to me, then. Monsters are dangerous beasts, and just now kings seem to be dying like flies. -- George R R Martin
He has a sellsword's conscience, she realized then. That is to say none at all. -- George R R Martin
Calm as still water. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. -- George R R Martin
Would you throw your life away for pride? -- George R R Martin
The Beauty raised her eyes, the only part of her that was truly beautiful. -- George R R Martin
She just laughed in his face and told him she'd sooner crawl in a bed with his father's leeches before she'd crawl in one with him. She stopped laughing when he put his knife in her. -- George R R Martin
If you would sooner drown in wine, say the word and it shall be done, and quickly. Drowning cup by cup wastes time and wine both. -- George R R Martin
Always the wall, keeping him apart, this man who was a first-name friend to everyone and an intimate to none. And on it, it was almost as if there were a sign that read, THIS FAR YOU GO, and no further. -- George R R Martin
What is dead can never die." "But rises again, harder and stronger. -- George R R Martin
You know the best thing about heroes, Jaime? They all die young and leave more women for the rest of us. -- George R R Martin
Yet if it is the swordsmen who rule us in truth, why do we pretend our kings hold the power? -- George R R Martin
Curiosity is my great vice. I fear you have seen through to the heart of me, and now seek to exploit my weakness -- George R R Martin
We're fortunate my brother Stannis is not with us. Remember that time he proposed to outlaw brothels? -- George R R Martin
It's not a career for anyone who needs or values security. It's a career for gamblers. Every time you write a book you roll the dice again. -- George R R Martin
The times grow ever more interesting, my sweet, and when the times are interesting you can never have too many swords. -- George R R Martin
Yet the higher a man climbs the further he has to fall. -- George R R Martin
I was afraid that if I closed my eyes, I might never open them again, only ... well ... dawn came after all. -- George R R Martin
Yet in its own way, death is the most natural thing of all -- George R R Martin
Some commands are more easily given than obeyed. -- George R R Martin
When a man was hurt you took him to the maester, but what could you do when your maester was hurt? -- George R R Martin
Are you blind or bought? -- George R R Martin
A wise man did not pour wildfire on a brazier. Instead he poured a fresh cup of wine. -- George R R Martin
It beat down on Ned's head, warm as blood and relentless as old guilts. -- George R R Martin
The wall has more moods than Mad King Aerys, they'd say, or sometimes the wall has more mood than a woman. -- George R R Martin
A large belly requires a large mouth. -- George R R Martin
He is fair of face and foul of heart. -- George R R Martin
Sometimes," Catelyn said slowly, "the best thing you can do is nothing. -- George R R Martin
She wanted to lose herself in the words, in other times and places -- George R R Martin
Boy, there are days where I get up and say 'Where the hell did my talent go? Look at this crap that I'm producing here. This is terrible. Look, I wrote this yesterday. I hate this, I hate this.' -- George R R Martin
I loved a maid as white as winter, with moonglow in her hair. -- George R R Martin
Great wrongs have been done you, but the past is dust. The future may yet be won .. -- George R R Martin
Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them. -- George R R Martin
A man agrees with god as a raindrop agrees with the storm -- George R R Martin
There are no happy endings. -- George R R Martin
A man should cling to hope. -- George R R Martin
Plots within plots, but all roads lead down the dragon's gullet. -- George R R Martin
Fish," the fool declared happily, waving a cod about like a scepter. "Under the sea, the fish eat us. -- George R R Martin
Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. -- George R R Martin
The past remains the past. We can learn from it, but we cannot change it. -- George R R Martin
A true man does what he will, not what he must. -- George R R Martin
blood runs truer than oaths. -- George R R Martin
Some gave me soft words and some blunt, some made excuses, some promises, some only lied. In the end words are just wind. -- George R R Martin
No one was safe. No life was certain. -- George R R Martin
Three good men dead, to save a hedge knight's foot. -- George R R Martin
And if I hear 'Your Grace' once more, I'll have your head on a spike. We are more to each other than that." "I had not forgotten," Ned replied quietly. -- George R R Martin
Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens. -- George R R Martin
I like cheese. Fromage. -- George R R Martin
The crow is the raven's poor cousin. They are both beggars in black, hated and misunderstood. -- George R R Martin
It had been more of a wish, actually, but it sounded better to call it a dream. -- George R R Martin
When I sleep I turn into a wolf. Bran turned his face away and looked back out into the night. Do wolves dreams? -- George R R Martin
The Red Sword of Heroes looks a proper mess -- George R R Martin
Remember that what you have won or lost is your own doing, and spare me your regrets and recriminations. -- George R R Martin
You should grieve if a fictional character is killed. You should care. -- George R R Martin
the stars were horses made of fire, a great herd that galloped across the sky by night. As -- George R R Martin
look at me and tell me what you see -- George R R Martin
Any act can be a prayer, if done as well as we are able. -- George R R Martin
It's Magic, you see. It's justice you hold. It's vengeance for your father. It's home. -- George R R Martin
Most people were startled to find out there were books that preceded Game Of Thrones. I'm a case of working forty years to be an overnight success. -- George R R Martin
Dark wings, dark words, me mother used to say, but when the birds fly silent, seems to me that's even darker. -- George R R Martin
a thin scraggle of beard, gave Jon and Sam a cool look. He had been one of Alliser Thorne's henchmen, and had no love for -- George R R Martin
Little birds fly through many a dark tunnel. -- George R R Martin
Some allies are more dangerous than enemies. -- George R R Martin
Salt a slug and shame a hero. -- George R R Martin
If is a word for fools. -- George R R Martin
You weren't s'posed to be here, -- George R R Martin
I'm not afraid to die." It was only half a lie. -- George R R Martin
When the sun has set, no candle can replace it. -- George R R Martin
Bring on your storm, my lord-and recall, if you do, the name of this castle-Ser Courtnay Penrose at Storm's End. -- George R R Martin
Neither's the one you get, less you want me to see if your apple's ripe, yet. - Yoren -- George R R Martin
When the armorer opened the door, the blast of hot air that came through made Ned feel as though he were walking into a dragon's mouth. Inside, a forge blazed in each corner, -- George R R Martin
Four hairs on his lip and he thinks he's a man. -- George R R Martin
Sobbing, Sam took another step. This is the last one, the very last, I can't go on, I can't. But his feet moved again. One and then the other. They took a step, and then another, and he thought, They're not my feet, they're someone else's, someone else is walking, it can't be me. -- George R R Martin
Till the rest of his days were done, Abner Marsh remembered that moment, that first look into the eyes of Joshua York. -- George R R Martin
It fits," said Tolly Mune. "Sometimes I feel this ship is haunted." "This suggests why it is wiser to rely upon intellect rather than feelings, Portmaster. -- George R R Martin
Oysters, clams, and cockles were cat's magic words, and like all good magic words they could take her almost anywhere. -- George R R Martin
Maybe it's the rogue in me, the part of me that loves to color outside the lines, but the truth is, I don't have much respect for genre barriers. -- George R R Martin
No mother loves all her children the same, not even the Mother Above. -- George R R Martin
Words are wind. If you love me, do not leave me. -- George R R Martin
You have another choice, though," Prince Baelor said quietly. "Whether it is a better choice or a worse one, I cannot say, but I remind you that any knight accused of a crime has the right to demand trial by combat. So I ask you once again, Ser Duncan the Tall - how good a knight are you? Truly? -- George R R Martin
Is that a crow I hear, calling the raven black? -- George R R Martin
Sweet smells are sometimes used to cover foul ones. -- George R R Martin
However bright a torch might burn it could never match the rising sun. -- George R R Martin
When you have known the kiss of a flaying knife, a laugh loses all its power to hurt you. -- George R R Martin
There is no limit to Lannister pride or Lannister ambition," Catelyn -- George R R Martin
One day, promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong. -- George R R Martin
They always seemed to know everything, but now there is only me, and it seems I know nothing, not even my duty. How can I do my duty if I do not know where it lies? - Catelyn -- George R R Martin
Can our morrows be foretold?
Your Grace might ask instead should our morrows be foretold? And to that I should answer no. Some doors are best left closed.
See that you close mine as you leave. -- George R R Martin
Men will always underestimate you and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly, lest it be said that a woman tried them sorely.- Ser Godwin -- George R R Martin
commander like this one. Ser -- George R R Martin
The contents of my chamber pot are more able than Ser Harys. -- George R R Martin
Pride ill becomes a beggar, ser. -- George R R Martin
I made no threats, that was a promise. -- George R R Martin
Sellswords put gold before honor. -- George R R Martin
Fear cuts deeper than swords, she -- George R R Martin
If? The word is when. -- George R R Martin
You will never walk again, Bran," the pale lips promised, "but you will fly. -- George R R Martin
It will not matter. The dream was green, Bran, and the green dreams do not lie. -- George R R Martin
It seemed as he had been falling for years. Fly, a voice whispered in the darkness, but Bran did not know how to fly, so all he could do was fall. -- George R R Martin
More wine?" Tyrion asked him. "I should not object," Lord Janos said, holding out his cup. He was built like a keg, and had a similar capacity. -- George R R Martin
Last night in his cups he had broken down and wept, full of regrets for things undone and words unsaid. -- George R R Martin
It burns, it does. Nothing burns like the cold. -- George R R Martin
Watch, the core of two thousand who'd gotten -- George R R Martin
A sweet fruit for a sweet fight. -- George R R Martin
What else is a Hand for, if not to hand you things? -- George R R Martin
A turnip would have grasped it quicker. -- George R R Martin
I stayed sober for this? -- George R R Martin
Young girls should be an or e, not an ache to the ear. -- George R R Martin
Reading. That was the sport I was good at. -- George R R Martin
Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them and they go to rust. -- George R R Martin
Flies are the dead man's revenge. -- George R R Martin
They stepped past the eunuch into a pillared courtyard overgrown in pale ivy. -- George R R Martin
The very air seemed grey and green and still. -- George R R Martin
Men see what they expect to see. -- George R R Martin
Not all men were meant to dance with dragons. -- George R R Martin
The heart is all that matters. -- George R R Martin
You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn't give you the power to reform, or improve, or build. -- George R R Martin
No, don't, don't cut my hair, Ned loves my hair. -- George R R Martin
You would wail for hours, and nothing would quiet you but a woman's teat." "Still true, as it happens. -- George R R Martin
Ghosts," Irri muttered. "Terrible ghosts. We must not stay here, Khaleesi, this is their place." "I fear no ghosts. -- George R R Martin
I wish it was all a dream. Then I could wake up. -- George R R Martin
The sword was not the kingdom, he says. -- George R R Martin
I will answer injustice with justice. -- George R R Martin
Looked again she found him to the back, under the shade of the high -- George R R Martin
A man must know how to look before he can hope to see. -- George R R Martin
I only need half my wits to be a match for you. -- George R R Martin
Why did you make your people lambs, when the world is full of wolves. -- George R R Martin
Hands of gold are always cold, but a woman's hands are warm. -- George R R Martin
This was how an enemy should be dealt with: with a dagger, not a declaration. -- George R R Martin
Don't try to cross the whole Reach on your own. See you don't forget, or my ghost will come and clout you in the ear. -- George R R Martin
She has the blood of a wolf," said Joffrey. "And you have the wits of a goose," said Tyrion. -- George R R Martin
Missandei said the Peaceful People made music instead of war. They did not kill, not even animals; they ate only fruit and never flesh. -- George R R Martin
His strength, his speed, his valor, all his hard-won skill . . . it was worth less than a mummer's fart, because he flinched from killing. -- George R R Martin
It might have been minutes or it might have been hours; time slept when swords woke. -- George R R Martin
If you keep all your treasures in one purse, you only make it easier for those who would rob you. -- George R R Martin
A lie is not so bad if it is kindly meant. If only she believed them ... -- George R R Martin
fear cuts deeper than swords. c -- George R R Martin
If it is some trap, better that I die than let them hurt me more, -- George R R Martin
Late, he seemed to realize that he might have said too -- George R R Martin
We'll both walk away smiling, in harmonious equipoise. -- George R R Martin
the night is damp, and the cobbles will be slippery." When -- George R R Martin
Bad dreams never come true. The both of them had been so young, that had sounded almost wise. -- George R R Martin
Kill me, and be cursed. You are no king of mine. -- George R R Martin
Man at court has heard him tell how he took your maidenhead, -- George R R Martin
The world grows a little darker every day. -- George R R Martin
She had to have gone elsewhere ... but elsewhere is a big place. -- George R R Martin
Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna, and thousands died for it. -- George R R Martin
The things we love destroy us every every time, lad -- George R R Martin
See what comes of chasing dragons. -- George R R Martin
Men were not meant to leave the earth. Spend too much time in the clouds and you never want to come back down again. -- George R R Martin
Deeds is truer than words. -- George R R Martin
A nightmare this might be, yet it was no dream. -- George R R Martin
Sleep is good. Books are better. -- George R R Martin
the false humility of youth that is itself a sort of pride. It -- George R R Martin
A thousand deaths would still be less than he deserves. -- George R R Martin
Hard hands and no sense of humor makes for a bad marriage. -- George R R Martin
No doubt he was smiling. He smiled a lot, as if the world were a secret joke that only he was clever enough to understand. -- George R R Martin
I had a couple of friends, but I was mostly the kid with his nose in a book. -- George R R Martin
A lord needed to eat with his men, if he hoped to keep them. -- George R R Martin
There are old sellswords and bold sellswords, but no old bold sellswords. -- George R R Martin
You were the one who taught me that a good threat is often more telling than a blow. -- George R R Martin
The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow. -- George R R Martin
We all live our lives, but a reader lives a hundred other lives. -- George R R Martin
If you bed enough women, some will give you presents, -- George R R Martin
Sometimes the knights are the monsters, Bran. -- George R R Martin
Evil thoughts come free -- George R R Martin
Learn to use yours ears more and your mouth less, or your reign will be shorter than I am. -- George R R Martin
You must not balk whatever is asked of you. -- George R R Martin
It seemed cruel for a day to dawn so fair and end so foul as this one promised to. -- George R R Martin
A son for a son, heh. But that's a grandson ... and he never was much use.
Walder Frey -- George R R Martin
I have touched more men that I can count. Some with my lips, more with my axe. -- George R R Martin
She would be no one if that was what it took. No one had no holes inside her. -- George R R Martin
Beauty can be treacherous. -- George R R Martin
He closed his third eye and opened the other two, the old two, the blind two. -- George R R Martin
He counts to ten as quick as any man, I have seen him do it ... though when he needs to go to twenty he does take off his boots. -- George R R Martin
It was pleasant to think that men still sang, even in the midst of butchery and famine. -- George R R Martin
All my life men like you've sneered at me, and all my life I've been knocking men like you into the dust. -- George R R Martin
There has never been a slave who did not choose to be a slave, -- George R R Martin
Too many dragons are as dangerous as too few. -- George R R Martin
Fear is what keeps a man alive in this world if treachery and deceit. -- George R R Martin
The hand does not argue with the head. -- George R R Martin
A bruise is a lesson, she told herself, and each lesson makes us better. -- George R R Martin
Grief can derange even the strongest and most disciplined of minds. -- George R R Martin
His axe took her in the back of the head. -- George R R Martin
Men can always fight, Your Grace. Ask rather if we can win. Dying is easy, but victory comes hard. -- George R R Martin
He dreamt an old dream, of three knights in white cloaks, and a tower long fallen, and Lyanna in her bed of blood. -- George R R Martin
Nothing discourages unwanted questions as much as a flow of pious bleating -- George R R Martin
When a dog goes bad, the fault lies with his master. -- George R R Martin
A queen loves where she must not where she will. -- George R R Martin
I do so love a nicely bandied word. -- George R R Martin
You know I've always considered women to be people. -- George R R Martin
Spikes, " he sighed. "Heads. Walls. -- George R R Martin
What if a wizard was sent to kill him?"
"Well, as to that," Desmond replied, drawing his.longsword, "wizards die the same as the other men, once you cut their heads off. -- George R R Martin
Every battle is a gamble, Snow. The man who does nothing also takes a risk. -- George R R Martin
Nothing burns like the cold. -- George R R Martin
The road ahead was full of perils, he knew, but what of it? All men must die. All he asked was time. -- George R R Martin
Minds are like swords, I do fear. The old ones go to rust. -- George R R Martin
You can't hammer tin into iron, no matter how hard you beat it, but that doesn't mean it's useless. -- George R R Martin
He had chosen a hard life ... or perhaps he should say that a hard life had been chosen for him -- George R R Martin
You lie. Worse, you lie poorly. -- George R R Martin
Dragons die." She stood on her toes to kiss him lightly on an unshaven cheek. "But so do dragonslayers. -- George R R Martin
None of us is ever ready," he said. "For knighthood?" "For death. -- George R R Martin
They say I'm half a man. What does that make the lot of you? -- George R R Martin
When a pirate grows rich enough, they make him a prince. -- George R R Martin
And take the ironmen in the rear while they are beating off what they think is my main thrust up the causeway -- George R R Martin
Give me a good clean death. -- George R R Martin
Wolves never cry. -- George R R Martin
And suddenly Jon was back in the Lord Commander's Tower again. -- George R R Martin
Silence is a prince's friend. -- George R R Martin
Wars need not be fought until the last drop of blood. -- George R R Martin
Dragons plant no trees. -- George R R Martin
In this light she could almost be a beauty, he thought. In this light she could almost be a knight. - Jaime -- George R R Martin
But what a man can do and what a man will do are two different things, he knew. -- George R R Martin
That was the trouble with the clans; they had an absurd notion that every man's voice should be heard in council, so they argued about EVERYTHING, endlessly. -- George R R Martin
Men of honor will do things for their children that they would never consider doing for themselves. -- George R R Martin
Dark gods beneath the ground in the Frostfangs, -- George R R Martin
I wrote six pilots, none of which ever got picked up. When you stop trying, it then it falls in your lap. -- George R R Martin
Strength to your arm, then. -- George R R Martin
How could it end any other way? The beast was greater than they were, a force of nature. The beast was like the river, eternal. It had no doubts, no thoughts, no dreams or plans. -- George R R Martin
It doesn't matter what we want, once we get it, then we want something else. - Lord Baelish -- George R R Martin
It is known." "It is known," Jhiqui agreed. -- George R R Martin
I've said in many interviews that I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense. -- George R R Martin
His brother never untied a knot when he could slash it in two with his sword. -- George R R Martin
A smile should be a servant, and come only when you call it. -- George R R Martin
A frightened man is a beaten man. -- George R R Martin
A real wolf would finish a wounded animal. -- George R R Martin
But the girl hates me, and she should. -- George R R Martin
Vengeane, Justice. Fire and Blood -- George R R Martin
The king eats, they say, and the Hand takes the shit. -- George R R Martin
The path of faith was a crooked one. -- George R R Martin
You heard me. Go away.
But ... where should I go?
To hell or home, as you prefer. -- George R R Martin
If we leave our smells behind us when we leave a room, surely something of our souls must remain when we leave this life? - Qyburn -- George R R Martin
The dream was green, and the green dreams do not lie. -- George R R Martin
There are other ways to tempt men, besides the flesh. -- George R R Martin
All Knights must bleed. Blood is the seal of our devotion. -- George R R Martin
She would die as she had lived, with an axe in her hand and a laugh upon her lips. -- George R R Martin
It was a clear cold night and the stars shone down upon the mountains as bright and merciless as truth. -- George R R Martin
Blood calls to blood. -- George R R Martin
In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which. -- George R R Martin
I'm one of those writers who say, 'I've enjoy having written.' -- George R R Martin
A knight swears by his sword. -- George R R Martin
If a man paints a target on his chest, he should expect that sooner or later someone will loose an arrow on him. -- George R R Martin
Kings rise and fall, Dunk thought, and cows and smallfolk go about their business. -- George R R Martin
For a moment, he was relaxed and mindless, drifting peacefully, and then his identity returned to him lazily, like an unwanted afterthought. -- George R R Martin
Too stupid to learn and too stupid to give up. -- George R R Martin
Still ... in this world only winter is certain. -- George R R Martin
found three thousand Unsullied -- George R R Martin
The map was one thing and the land quite another. -- George R R Martin
We are the shield that guards the realms of men. You do not throw away your shield for no good purpose. -- George R R Martin
I was a lot better at starting stories than I was at finishing them. -- George R R Martin
But my philosophy is that plot advancement is not what the experience of reading fiction is about. If all we care about is advancing the plot, why read novels? We can just read Cliffs Notes. -- George R R Martin
Stories wait, my little lord, and when you come back to them, why, there they are, -- George R R Martin
Folly and desperation are ofttimes hard to tell apart. -- George R R Martin
It felt as if they had all died while he had slept ... or perhaps (He) died, and they had forgotten him. -- George R R Martin
Soothe the wrath and tame the fury, teach us all a kinder way -- George R R Martin
People learn to love their chains -- George R R Martin
In the songs, the knights never screamed nor begged for mercy. -- George R R Martin
Nothing. My father is very good at doing nothing. He calls it thinking. -- George R R Martin
The Wall was his, the night was dark, and he had a king to face. -- George R R Martin
Surely the land has bled enough. -- George R R Martin
Men's lives have meaning, not their deaths. -- George R R Martin
The gods play cruel jests, Jon thought. -- George R R Martin
That is the nature of prophecy ... Prophecy will bite your prick off every time. -- George R R Martin
No fight is hopeless till it has been fought. -- George R R Martin
The lies we tell for love, he thought. May the gods forgive me. -- George R R Martin
The cable makers are the ones who are willing to take risks and do something original and push the envelope some. -- George R R Martin
What if I am? It seems to me that most men are grey." "If half of an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. -- George R R Martin
Give me the wisdom to know what must be done and the courage to do it. -- George R R Martin
If you cut a worm in two, you make two worms. -- George R R Martin
All men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned. -- George R R Martin
Pleasing one king is difficult enough. Pleasing two is hardly possible. -- George R R Martin
Someone told. Someone always tells. -- George R R Martin
Better to mock the game than to play and lose. -- George R R Martin
And a name passed from the lips of each man to the next, written in small white puffs of breath. -- George R R Martin
Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle. -- George R R Martin
Master of whisperers had been dressed as a begging -- George R R Martin
If life was worthless, what was death? -- George R R Martin
My tongue lied my eyes shouted the truth. -- George R R Martin
The gods are never that good. -- George R R Martin