George RR Martin

The best way to learn a thing was to do it, he had found; sails or scrolls, it made no matter.

The boar can keep his tusks and the bear his claws. There's nothing half so mortal as a grey goose feather.

Men are seldom as they appear. You look so very guilty that I am convinced of your innocence.

Is it treason to say a man is mortal?

Men can't own the land no more'n they can own the sea or the sky.

Life would be much simpler if men could fuck themselves, don't you agree?

Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner.

Ser Meryn got a stubborn look on his face. “Are you telling us not to obey the king?”

“The king is eight. Our first duty is to protect him, which includes protecting him from himself. Use that ugly thing you keep inside your helm. If Tommen wants you to saddle his horse, obey him. If he tells you to kill his horse, come to me.”

The gods sometimes let us glimpse the future as we lay dying.

The Fingers are a lovely place, if you happen to be a stone.

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

“Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game.”

“What...what game?”

“The only game. The game of thrones.”