A Clash of Kings

You should have learned by now, none of us get the things we want.

Knights may keep their truces when dealing with other knights, but they are not so careful of their honor when dealing with those whom they deem outlaw.

If I die, I die friendless and abandoned. What choice did that leave him, but to live?

"Our honor means no more than our lives, so long as the realm is safe. Are you a man of the Night's Watch?"

"Yes, but–"

"There is no but. You are, or you are not."

I went to the warlocks hoping for answers, but instead they've left me with a hundred new questions.

His wits were coming back to him, however slowly. That was good. His wits were all he had.

"Ser Rodrik had you five-to-one."

"Aye, but he thought us friends. A common mistake."

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 ... His father thought only in terms of conquest, but what good was it to take a kingdom if you could not hold it? Force and fear could only carry you so far.

Children are a battle of a different sort ... A battle without banners or warhorns, but no less fierce ... As hard as birth can be, what comes after is even harder.

I will say, I think it passing odd that I am loved by one for a kindness I never did, and reviled by so many for my finest act.

Sansa, permit me to share a bit of womanly wisdom with you on this very special day. Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.

In formal battle, discipline is more important than courage.

Listen with your ears, not your mouth.

So many vows . . . they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you’re forsaking one vow or the other.

When I was smuggling, I learned that some men believe everything, and some nothing.

Tomorrow's trials concerned her more than yesterday's triumphs.

Whether they believe the story or not, they delight to tell it.

It is better to be seen as cruel than foolish.

There are no men like me. There’s only me.

I hear all sorts of things as a fool that I never heard when I was a knight.

The guests laughed, but it was a joyless laughter, the sort that can turn into sobbing in half a heartbeat.

He distrusts everyone, she reflected, and perhaps for good reason.

The only way to keep people loyal is to make sure they fear you more than the enemy.

How can I do my duty if I do not know where it lies?

A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic ... and the parts that look like magic often turn out to be the messiest of all.

I told you what needed to be done, and left it to you to decide what it would be ... To lead men you must know them, Jon Snow. I know more of you now than I did this morning.

Cruel lands breed cruel peoples.

Tyrion says that people often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it’s served up.

The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome.

"If she saw two futures, well ... both cannot be true."

King Stannis pointed a finger. "There you err, Onion Knight. Some lights cast more than one shadow."

He loved the wild more than he loved the Wall.

Men fight more fiercely for a king who shares their peril than one who hides behind his mother's skirts.

Send two hundred wolves against ten thousand sheep, ser, and see what happens.

That was the way of war. The smallfolk were slaughtered, while the highborn were held for ransom.

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.

The living should smile, for the dead cannot.

What good is this, I ask you? He who hurries through life hurries to his grave.

Have you ever considered that too many answers are the same as no answer at all? ... When a king dies, fancies sprout like mushrooms in the dark.

“Kings have no friends,” Stannis said bluntly, “only subjects and enemies.”

"I am not without mercy", thundered he who was notoriously without mercy.

She got dirt in her mouth but she didn't care, the taste was fine, the taste was mud and water and worms and life.

“Sleep is good,” he said. “And books are better.”

“He’ll want what kings always want,” she said. “Homage.”

The smallfolk are always eager to believe the worst of their lords.

Why would the gods send a warning if we can't heed it and change what's to come?

I was a boy, and what boy does not wish to find secret powers hidden in himself?

"You'd best get a bird ready. Mormont will want to send back word."

"I wish I could send them all. They hate being caged."

"You would too, if you could fly."

One day she would allow herself to be less than strong. But it could not be today.

A frightened man is a beaten man

"My first rule of war, Cat—never give the enemy his wish."

It is real, all of it, he thought, the wars, the intrigues, the great bloody game, and me in the center of it ... me, the dwarf, the monster, the one they scorned and laughed at, but now I hold it all, the city, the girl. This was what I was made for, and gods forgive me, but I love it.

If you step in a nest of snakes, does it matter which one bites you first?

Arya watched them die and said nothing. What good did it do you to be brave? ... There were no brave people on that march, only scared and hungry ones.

The longer he lived, the more Tyrion realized that nothing was simple and little was true.

As for those she served with, she did not even want to even know their names. That only made it hurt worse when they died.

If it is the swordsmen who rule us in truth, why do we pretend kings have the power?

Is a secret still a secret if everyone knows it?

This world is twisted beyond hope, when lowborn smugglers must vouch for the honor of kings

She thought she had known what it meant to be afraid, but she learned better in the storehouse beside the Gods Eye.

Boys believe nothing can hurt them, his doubt whispered. Grown men know better.

King is only a word, but fealty, loyalty, service ... those I must have.

"Why do you let people call you a dog? You won't let anyone call you a knight."

"I like dogs better than knights ... A hound will die for you, but never lie to you."

Sorcery is the sauce fools spoon over failure to hide the flavor of their own incompetence.

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.

"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, "yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow."

The Iron Islands lived in the past; the present was too hard and bitter to be borne.

When there are no battles to fight, men start to think of hearth and harvest.

"... [W]hen you've known me longer, you'll learn that I mean everything I say."

"Even the lies?"

"Especially the lies."

“Maester Luwin says there’s nothing in dreams that a man need fear.”

“There is,” said Jojen.

“What?”

“The past. The future. The truth.”

When a pirate grows rich enough, they make him a prince.

Paint stripes on a toad, he does not become a tiger.

Catelyn was finding that kings do not listen half so attentively as sons.

I'm terrified of my enemies, so I kill them all.

Only cowards kill the vanquished

“I’ll have the boy.” ... “You’ll have no one,” Yoren said stubbornly. “There’s laws on such things.” The gold cloak drew a shortsword. “Here’s your law.” Yoren looked at the blade. “That’s no law, just a sword. Happens I got one too.”

The world preferred to forget that men who knew how to heal also knew how to kill.

Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them.

There's no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it.

"The Watch needs good men" he told them as they set out, "but you lot will have to do."