The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good. Death and life. Everywhere, opposites.

One of the hardest parts of writing is writing from the gut or the heart or something like that rather than intellectually.

...spend my time warring and whoring, that's what I was made for.

Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. So if you must hate, Arya, hate those who would truly do us harm.

I want you to be afraid to turn the page (and to do that) you need to show right from the beginning that you're playing for keeps.

The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong.

Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul.