A Dance with Dragons

Parchments had been signed, but wars were not fought on parchments.

He did his duty. Some nights, Ser Barristan wondered if he had not done that duty too well.

The most insidious thing about bondage was how easy it was to grow accustomed to it.

Pain is the price of power.

When men are dying every hour, no one looks too hard at one more dead man.

You kill men for the wrongs they have done, not the wrongs that they may do someday.

That is how it is when a man grows as old as Pycelle. Everything see or hear reminds you of something yo saw or heard when you were younger.

“Men are mad and gods are madder,” she told the grass, and the grass murmured its agreement.

The gods are blind. And men see only what they wish.

A fair bargain leaves both sides unhappy, I've heard it said.

It is an easy thing for a prince to call the spears, but in the end it is the children who pay the price.

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.

A warrior who cannot sleep soon has no strength to fight.

Some men say there is wisdom in wine. Such men are fools.

It is hard to look a hero when mounted on a pig.

“Men are men, vows are words, and words are wind. You should put guards around the women.”

“And who will guard the guards?”

Some had been heroes, some weaklings, knaves, or cravens. Most were only men—quicker and stronger than most, more skilled with sword and shield, but still prey to pride, ambition, lust, love, anger, jealousy, greed for gold, hunger for power, and all the other failings that afflicted lesser mortals. The best of them overcame their flaws, did their duty, and died with their swords in their hands. The worst...

The worst were those who played the game of thrones.

Past a certain point, all the dates grow hazy and confused, and the clarity of history becomes the fog of legend.

A gentle heart may be worth more than pride or valor.

The past remains the past. We can learn from it, but we cannot change it.

Men do not give up their gods so easily.

A little brother may live to be a hundred, but he will always be a little brother.

We live closer to the green in our bogs and crannogs, and we remember 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.

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.

Yes and no ... can go a long way once you find the right questions.

No man has ever died from bending his knee ... He who kneels may rise again, blade in hand. He who will not kneel stays dead. He who will not kneel stays dead, stiff legs and all.

A man must know how to look before he can hope to see.

What good is peace if it must be purchased with the blood of little children?

When the choice is debt or death, best to borrow.

So long as men remember the wrongs done to their forebears, no peace will ever exist.

You can buy a man with gold, but only blood and steel will keep him true.

A living man can find the sea more easily than a dead one.

Three kings is two too many.

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? For some men to be great, others must be enslaved.

Kings and corpses always draw attendants.

Things can change quickly in the game of thrones.

The man who does nothing also takes a risk.

If you would savor the sweet taste of the fruit, you must water the tree,

Prophecy is like a half-trained mule ... It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” said Jojen. “The man who never reads lives only one.”

A wall is only as good as the men defending it.

Oberyn was ever the viper. Deadly, dangerous, unpredictable. No man dared tread on him. I was the grass. Pleasant, complaisant, sweet-smelling, swaying with every breeze. Who fears to walk upon the grass? But it is the grass that hides the viper from his enemies and shelters him until he strikes.

You need not trust a man to use him.

Perhaps I cannot make my people good, but I should at least try to make them a little less bad.

What one king does, another may undo.

There is no valor in running for your life.

Gods and wonders always appear, to attend the birth of kings.

It did not seem fair to drown the cabin boy and the captain and all the rest for something he had done, but when had the gods ever been fair?

Making mock of another man's prayer is fool's work.

Age makes ruins of us all.

The world is one great web, and a man dare not touch a single strand lest all the others tremble.

No man is free. Only children and fools think elsewise.

It was better to go hungry than to feast upon a friend.

Man wants to be king of the rabbits, he best wear a pair o' floppy ears.

Gold has its uses, but wars are won with iron.

A book can be as dangerous as a sword in the right hands.

Men love to complain about their wives and lords ... Those without wives complain twice as much about their lords.