Quotes
If this was power, why did it taste like tedium?
Lord Seaworth is a man of humble birth, but he reminded me of my duty, when all I could think of was my rights. I had the cart before the horse, Davos said. I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne.
When the lion falls the lesser beasts move in.
In King's Landing, there are two sorts of people: The players and the pieces.
When your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. And any man who must say "I am the king" is no king at all.
“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.”
I never asked for this crown. Gold is cold and heavy on the head ...
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.
It is better to be seen as cruel than foolish.
The only way to keep people loyal is to make sure they fear you more than the enemy.
“Kings have no friends,” Stannis said bluntly, “only subjects and enemies.”
“He’ll want what kings always want,” she said. “Homage.”
