George RR Martin

In life, the monsters win.

A man who fights for coin is loyal only to his purse.

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

Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.

"What strange fit of madness led you to tell the queen that you had learned the secret of Joffrey's birth?"

"The madness of mercy."

Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them.

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.

Is it so far from madness to wisdom?

Many called her beautiful. She was not beautiful. She was red, and terrible, and red.

I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne, or so dead as now that I've won it.

He was always clever, even as a boy, but it is one thing to be clever and another to be wise.

“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her. “It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” He gave a shrug. “They never are.”