I prefer my history dead. Dead history is writ in ink, the living sort in blood.
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.
I think life is a jape. Yours, mine, everyone’s.
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.
You know nothing, Jon Snow.
All these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers.
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.
Ser Barristan loves his honor, Grand Maester Pycelle loves his office, and Littlefinger loves Littlefinger.
And pray that he is the man I think he is, he finished silently, and not the man I fear he has become.
There are no men like me. There’s only me.
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.
All dwarfs may be bastards yet not all bastards are dwarfs.
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.
Do you want to die old and craven in your bed?- How else? Though not till I’m done reading.
Sacrifice is never easy or it is no true sacrifice. – Stannis.
Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it’s always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining.
And I tell you truly, Danaerys, there is no man in all the world who will ever be half so true to you as me.
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?
There is magic in my universe, but it’s pretty low magic compared to other fantasies.
There are some examples of medieval kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings.