R R Martin Quotes & Sayings

Plots within plots, but all roads lead down the dragon's gullet. — George R R Martin

A man of the Night's Watch lives his life for the realm. Not for a king, nor a lord, nor the honor of this house or that house, neither for gold nor glory nor a woman's love, but for the realm, and all the people in it. A man of the Night's Watch takes no wife and fathers no sons. Our wife is duty. Our mistress is honor. And you are the only sons we shall ever know. — George R R Martin

The septons preach about the seven hells. What do they know? Only a man who's been burned knows what hell is truly like"
... She was sad for him, she realized. Somehow, the fear had gone away.
The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself. She found his massive shoulder with her hand. "He was no true knight," she whispered to him. — George R R Martin

We will fight a battle, and then we will rest. Alive or dead, we'll rest. - Jon Snow — George R R Martin

Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities. — George R R Martin

Fish," the fool declared happily, waving a cod about like a scepter. "Under the sea, the fish eat us. — George R R Martin

Innocent or guilty, a Lannister pays his debts. — George R R Martin

My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results ... but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight. — George R R Martin

Old books are like Old friends — George R R Martin

Silence is a prince's friend. — George R R Martin

So they will not love, for love is the bane of honour, the death of duty. — George R R Martin

By the time Jon Snow signed the parchment the Braavosi drew up, both of them were half-drunk and quite unhappy. Jon thought that a good sign. — George R R Martin

If ... if certain things should come to pass, I will send word to each of you. Things can change quickly in the game of thrones. — George R R Martin

A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward. — George R R Martin

I'd let his whole khalasar fuck you if need be, sweet sister, all forty thousand men and their horses too if that was what it took to get my army ... — George R R Martin

Writing is hard. I mean, I sit there and work at it. — George R R Martin

Tyrion Lannister: Someone should tell the cooks that turnips isn't a meat. — George R R Martin

What is a human mind? Memories. Memories are data. Character, personality, individual volition. Those are programming. — George R R Martin

Mangonels and trebuchets and rolling rams mounted — George R R Martin

Your thoughts have the power to control; our being, our emotions, and the way we view the world that surrounds us. If you don't constantly re-think what you think of on a daily basis, how do you ever expect to evolve into a being of; wisdom, truth, understanding, love, and above all, to be there for others? — Martin R. Lemieux

Another day done" - he would sigh - "and who knows what the morrow will bring us, eh, Dunk? — George R R Martin

The boys were going to a place that none had ever been before, to serve an order that had been the enemy of their kith and kin for thousands of years, yet Jon saw no tears, heard no wailing mothers. These are winter's people, [ ... ] tears freeze upon your cheeks where they come from. — George R R Martin

The hand does not argue with the head. — George R R Martin

We will have it tanned and stuffed and sell it for a fortune. A dwarf's cock has magical powers."
"I have been telling all the women that for years. — George R R Martin

The Father protects his children, the septons taught, but Davos had led his boys into the fire. Dale would never give his wife the child they had prayed for, and Allard, with his girl in Oldtown and his girl in Kings Landing, and his girl in Braavos, they would all be weeping soon. Matthos would never captain his own ship, as he dreamed. Maric would never have his knighthood.
'How can I live when they are dead? So many brave knights and mighty lords have died, better men than me, and highborn. Crawl inside your cave, Davos. Crawl inside and shrink up small and the ship will go away, and no one will trouble you ever again. Sleep on your stone pillow and let the gulls peck out your eyes while the crabs feast on your flesh. You've feasted on enough of them, you owe them. Hide, smuggler. Hide, and be quiet, and die. — George R R Martin

I was heavily influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, C. S. Friedman, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, R. A. Salvatore, and James Clavell to name a few, but of course every book I've ever read, whether I liked it or not, has had an influence ... I think I am constantly evolving as a writer, but not to mimic anyone else or mainstream trends. — Peter V. Brett

We are born to suffer, that our suffering might make us strong — George R R Martin

It might have been minutes or it might have been hours; time slept when swords woke. — George R R Martin

The wind cut like a knife up here, and shrilled in the night like a mother mourning her slain children. — George R R Martin

Drinkwater had a swagger to him, a confidence bordering on arrogance. He never seemed ill at ease, and even when he did not speak the language, he had ways of making himself understood. — George R R Martin

A clever fool and a foolish wise man. — George R R Martin

A queen loves where she must not where she will. — George R R Martin

Saturnine, with thin arched brows above large eyes as black and — George R R Martin

She was no stranger to waiting, after all. Her man had always made her wait. — George R R Martin

She walked fast, to keep ahead of her fear, and it felt as though Syrio Forel walked beside her, and Yoren, and Jaqen H'ghar, and Jon Snow. — George R R Martin

In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining. — George R R Martin

Interesting people aren't interesting because of what they always say; the most interesting people are the ones that always listen! — Martin R. Lemieux

'Rome' was one of my favourite shows, and I wish HBO had given it three more seasons 'cause I would have loved to continue watching it. — George R R Martin

There was no slavery in the free city of Pentos. Nonetheless, they were slaves. — George R R Martin

son for Loraq, no heir to unite dragon and harpy. When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, when the seas go dry and mountains blow in the — George R R Martin

Drink won his sword, meet with my hammer. That's more than my demon can object. — George R R Martin

Learn to use yours ears more and your mouth less, or your reign will be shorter than I am. — George R R Martin

No doubt he was smiling. He smiled a lot, as if the world were a secret joke that only he was clever enough to understand. — George R R Martin

Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish: The realm. Do you know what the realm is? It's the thousand blades of Aegon's enemies, a story we agree to tell each other over and over, until we forget that it's a lie.

Lord Varys: But what do we have left, once we abandon the lie? Chaos? A gaping pit waiting to swallow us all.

Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish: Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some, are given a chance to climb. They refuse, they cling to the realm or the gods or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is. — George R R Martin

The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. — George R R Martin

Boy, there are days where I get up and say 'Where the hell did my talent go? Look at this crap that I'm producing here. This is terrible. Look, I wrote this yesterday. I hate this, I hate this.' — George R R Martin

All the color had been leached from Winterfell until only grey and white remained. The Stark colors. Theon did not know whether he ought to find that ominous or reassuring. Even the sky was grey. The eyes of the bride were brown. Big and brown and full of fear. — George R R Martin

Arya lifted her gaze from the dead man and his dead dog. Jaqen H'ghar was leaning up against the side of the Wailing Tower. When he saw her looking, he lifted a hand to his face and laid two fingers casually against his cheek. — George R R Martin

Flies are the dead man's revenge. — George R R Martin

She wanted to see if it would be as easy with a woman as it had always been with Robert. Ten thousand of your children perished in my palm, Your Grace, she thought, slipping a third finger into Myr. Whilst you snored, I would lick your sons off my face and fingers one by one, all those pale sticky princes. You claimed your rights, my lord, but in the darkness I would eat your heirs. — George R R Martin

Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower? No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap. — George R R Martin

After the deep, warm nothingness, there was no pleasure in recalling who he was. Without coming fully awake, he nonetheless felt the weight of his own being settling on his heart. Despair and anger and the constant gnawing worry sounded in his mind like a man in the next room clearing his throat. — George R R Martin

Kind? How boring that would be. I aspire to be wicked. — George R R Martin

She had to have gone elsewhere ... but elsewhere is a big place. — George R R Martin

It was the kind of smile that could stop your heart-slow, seductive, and flawless. Even I got a little weak in the knees...or vag, but whatever. — Kelley R. Martin

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. — George R R Martin

No one was paying any mind to Bran. — George R R Martin

Jaime, he frowned. There's a cold suspicious look if ever I saw one. That one — George R R Martin

Free folk don't follow names, or little cloth animals sewn on a tunic," the King-Beyond-the-Wall had told him. "They won't dance for coins, they don't care how your style yourself or what that chain of office means or who your grandsire was. They follow strength. They follow the man. — George R R Martin

How I have yearned for the sound of your sweet voice," Tyrion sighed to her. "How I have yearned to have that eunuch's tongue pulled out with hot pincers," Cersei replied. — George R R Martin

Ned Stark kept his vows. He thought of the promises he'd made Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he'd paid to keep them. — George R R Martin

The high and humble crowded into the sept together to pray. — George R R Martin

I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid. — George R R Martin

There are no men like me. There's only me — George R R Martin

Laughter is poison to fear. I — George R R Martin

I have a gift for you," the dwarf said to Bran. "Do you like to ride, boy?" Maester Luwin came forward. "My lord, the child has lost the use of his legs. He cannot sit a horse." "Nonsense," said Lannister. "With the right horse and the right saddle, even a cripple can ride." The word was a knife through Bran's heart. He felt tears come unbidden to his eyes. "I'm not a cripple!" "Then I am not a dwarf," the dwarf said with a twist of his mouth. "My father will rejoice to hear it." Greyjoy laughed. — George R R Martin

Cersei is as gentle as King Maegor, as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys. — George R R Martin

Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them and they go to rust. — George R R Martin

When Maester Aemon heard him sing, he said his voice was honey poured over thunder. — George R R Martin

Septa Mordane said boar hunting was not for ladies, and Mother only promised that when she was older she might have her own hawk. She was older now, but if she had a hawk she'd eat it. -Arya Stark — George R R Martin

It was that white cloak that soiled me, not the other way around. — George R R Martin

One man on the wall is worth ten beneath it. — George R R Martin

And here's another order. From this day forth, you will not call yourself a craven. You've faced more things this past year than most men face in a lifetime. — George R R Martin

Ser Rodrik groused. His opinion of singers was well known; music was a lovely thing for girls, but he could not comprehend why any healthy boy would fill his hand with a harp when he might have had a sword. — George R R Martin

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. — George R R Martin

If he can give us the Stormcrows, surprise is certain"
"And if he betrays you, suprise is lost. — George R R Martin

Sobbing, Sam took another step. This is the last one, the very last, I can't go on, I can't. But his feet moved again. One and then the other. They took a step, and then another, and he thought, They're not my feet, they're someone else's, someone else is walking, it can't be me. — George R R Martin

The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, its fabled empire vanished in a day, the Lands of the Long Summer scorched and drowned and blighted. — George R R Martin

We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he'll drink them down and ask for more. — George R R Martin

Now you know " the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. "Now you know why you must live."
"Why " Bran said not understanding falling falling.
"Because winter is coming. — George R R Martin

There was part of me that wanted to see the world and travel to distant places, but I could only do it in my imagination, so I read ferociously and imagined things. — George R R Martin

Lady, I have never been a hero, no Ryam Redwyne or Barristan the Bold. I've won no tourneys, no renown in war ... but I was a knight once, and you have helped me remember what that meant. My life is a poor thing, but it is yours. — George R R Martin

heavy bonecrushing armor-smashing blades. — George R R Martin

I will not serve with oathbreakers and murderers.
[Jaime, Inwardly] Then why did you ever bother putting on a sword? — George R R Martin

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. — George R R Martin

I think George R. R. Martin made fantasy grow up. He brought a level of reality into the storytelling where you realize the good guys don't always win and anyone can die, because that's how life works. Bringing that level of reality into the story I think forced the genre to mature in a lot of ways that it hadn't prior. — Peter V. Brett

One day, promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong. — George R R Martin

The air smelled of salt and frying fish, of hot tar and honey, of incense and oil and sperm. — George R R Martin

He might as well wish for another thousand men, and maybe a dragon or three. — George R R Martin

None taken, Ser Jaremy. My father is very fond of spiked heads, especially those of people who have annoyed him in some fashion. And a face as noble as yours, well, no doubt he saw you decorating the city wall above King's Gate. I think you would have looked very striking up there. — George R R Martin

At sixteen, he was cursed with all the certainty of youth, unleavened by any trace of humor or self-doubt, and wed to the arrogance that came so naturally to those born blond and strong and handsome. — George R R Martin

a few of them even looked like soldiers. In a bad light. If you squint. — George R R Martin

Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs — George R R Martin

Forbid her anything and it became her heart's desire. — George R R Martin

It's dangerous being free, but most come to like the taste o' it. — George R R Martin

You told me that the children of the forest had the greensight. I remember."
"Some claimed to have that power. Their wise men were called greenseers."
"Was it magic?"
"Call it that for want of a better word, if you must. At heart it was only a different sort of knowledge."
Oh, to be sure, there is much we do not understand. The years pass in their hundreds and
their thousands, and what does any man see of life but a few summers, a few winters? We look at mountains and call them eternal, and so
they seem ... but in the course of time, mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, stars fall from the sky, and great cities sink
beneath the sea. Even gods die, we think. Everything changes.
So long as there was magic, anything could happen. Ghosts could walk, trees could talk, and broken boys could grow up to be knights. — George R R Martin

Master of whisperers had been dressed as a begging — George R R Martin

A man who sees nothing has no use for his eyes," the Mountain declared. "Cut them out and give them to your next outrider. Tell him you hope that four eyes might see better than two ... and if not, the man after him will have six. — George R R Martin

Laws should be made of iron, not of pudding. — George R R Martin

The cold gods," she said. "The ones in the night. The white shadows. — George R R Martin