Quotes from A Game of Thrones

George R.R. Martin ·  848 pages

Rating: (1.6M votes)


“... a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?'
'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“When you play a game of thrones you win or you die.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones



“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, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember that.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms . . . or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones



“Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side?”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Once you’ve accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“If I look back I am lost.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Every flight begins with a fall.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones



“My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer and I have my mind...and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That's why I read so much Jon Snow.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear?
Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet
deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long
night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children
are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and
hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Life is not a song, sweetling.
Someday you may learn that, to your sorrow.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I'll sleep more easily by night.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones



“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“You are your mother's trueborn son of Lannister."

"Am I?" the dwarf replied, sardonic. "Do tell my lord father. My mother died birthing me, and he's never been sure."

"I don't even know who my mother was," Jon said.

"Some woman, no doubt. Most of them are." He favored Jon with a rueful grin. "Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs."

And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune.

When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“The things I do for love.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


“A bruise is a lesson... and each lesson makes us better.”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from A Game of Thrones


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About the author

George R.R. Martin
Born place: in Bayonne, New Jersey, The United States
Born date September 20, 1948
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Popular quotes

“I find myself wondering how many other memories are hidden from me in the recesses of my own brain; indeed my own brain will seem to be the last great terra incognita, and I will be filled with wonder at the prospect of some day discovering new worlds there. Imagine the lost continent of Atlantis and all the submerged islands of childhood right there waiting to be found. The inner space we have never adequately explored. The worlds within worlds within worlds. And the marvelous thing is that they are waiting for us. If we fail to discover them, it is only because we haven't yet built the right vehicle - spaceship or submarine or poem - which will take us to them.
It's for this, partly, that I write. How can I know what I think unless I see what I write? My writing is the submarine or spaceship which takes me to the unknown worlds within my head. And the adventure is endless and inexhaustible. If I learn to build the right vehicle, then I can discover even more territories. And each new poem is a new vehicle, designed to delve a little deeper (or fly a little higher) than the one before.”
― Erica Jong, quote from Fear of Flying


“I’m making a list. And checking it twice.”
― Kerrelyn Sparks, quote from All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire


“How happy he must be, this Hobgoblin," exclaimed Sniff.
"He isn't a bit," replied Snufkin, "and he won't be until he finds the King's Ruby. It's almost as big as the black panther's head, and to look into it is like looking at leaping flames. The Hobgoblin has looked for the King's Ruby on all the planets including Neptune -- but he hasn't found it. Just now he has gone off to the moon to search in the craters, but he hasn't much hope of success, because in his heart of hearts the Hobgoblin believes that the King's Ruby lies in the sun, where he can never go because it is too hot.”
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“I have made a discovery,' said Giskard, his voice carrying no shade of emotion. 'I have made it because, for the first time in my existence, I faced thousands of human beings. Had I done this two centuries ago, I would have made the discovery then. Had I never faced so many at once, then I would never have made the discovery at all.

'Consider, then, how many vital points I might easily grasp, but never have and never will, simply because the proper conditions for it will never come my way. I remain ignorant except where circumstance helps me, and I cannot count on circumstance.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Robots and Empire


“His world was distinctly male. His experience with women minimal. They were a different breed, of that he was sure,”
― Steve Berry, quote from The Templar Legacy


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