George RR Martin

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

The hardest part of any battle is just before, waiting for the carnage to begin.

Better a mushroom than a sword through your neck, is it not so? Why die with the taste of blood in your mouth when it could be butter and garlic?

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

Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become ... Men were not meant to leave the earth. Spend too much time in the clouds and you never want to come back down again.

Alayne had told the lie so many times that she remembered it that way more oft than not.

A smile should be a servant, and come only when you call it.

I am tempted to say this is no game we play, daughter, but of course it is. The game of thrones.

There have always been men who found it easier to speak vows than to keep them.

Fear makes even strong men do things they might never do otherwise.

In the darkness all of the gods were strangers.

We princes make our careful plans and the gods smash them all awry.