Much as I admire Tolkien, I once again always felt like Gandalf should have stayed dead. That was such an incredible sequence in Fellowship of the Ring when he faces the Balrog on the Khazad-dรปm and he falls into the gulf, and his last words are, "Fly, you fools." What power that had, how that grabbed me. And then he comes back as Gandalf the White, and if anything he's sort of improved. I never liked Gandalf the White as much as Gandalf the Grey, and I never liked him coming back. I think it would have been an even stronger story if Tolkien had left him dead.
George R. R. MartinWhen you have known the kiss of a flaying knife, a laugh loses all its power to hurt you.
George R. R. MartinI want to weep, she thought. I want to be comforted. I'm so tired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, that's all....a day.....an hour.
George R. R. MartinI never finished any of my early stories. They were all beginnings, an endless number of beginnings.
George R. R. MartinTen years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be.
George R. R. MartinWoman?โ She chuckled. โIs that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man.โ Dany met his stare. โI am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, khaleesi to Drogoโs riders, and queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
George R. R. Martin