Quotes from George R.R. Martin

Pride goes before a fall.

Art is not a democracy. People don't get to vote on how it ends.

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.

All Knights must bleed. Blood is the seal of our devotion.

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.

Your Grace," he said, when he and Cersei were alone, "I was wondering. Are you drunk, or merely stupid?

Give me the wisdom to know what must be done and the courage to do it.

My lady," Tyrion said. "You are lovely, make no mistake, but … I cannot do this. My father be damned. We will wait. The turn of a moon, a year, a season, however long it takes. Until you have come to know me better, and perhaps to trust me a little." His smile might have been meant to be reassuring, but without a nose it only made him look more grotesque and sinister.

You cannot know what the light might summon from the darkness.

Jon lied ... loudly, as if that could make it true.

You're awful." "I'm honest. It's the world that's awful.

Jon hung a quiver from his belt and pulled an arrow. The shaft was black, the fletching grey. As he notched it to his string, he remembered something that Theon Greyjoy had once said after a hunt. "The boar can keep his tusks and the bear his claws," he had declared, smiling that way he did. "There's nothing half so mortal as a grey goose feather.

Vengeane, Justice. Fire and Blood

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.

She had a warrior's heart, but the gods in their blind malice had given her the feeble body of a woman.

It seems to me that a queen who trusts no one is as foolish as a queen who trusts everyone.

but I am running to and you are running from, and there's a world of difference there.

The Queen Who Never Was; what did Viserys ever have that she did not? A little sausage? Is that all it takes to be a king? Let Mushroom rule, then. My sausage is thrice the size of his.

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.

To go north, you must go south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward, you must go back. To touch the light, you must pass beneath the shadow.

Valor is a poor substitute for numbers

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.

Being randy is the next best thing to being drunk.

If there were ghosts in Harrenhal, they never troubled her. It was the living men she feared.