I dreamed... in the black of night a man asks all the questions he dare not ask by daylight. For me, the past years, only one question has remained. Why would the gods take my eyes and my strength, yet condemn me to linger on so long, frozen and forgotten? What use could they have for an old done man like me? ... I remember, Sam. I still remember. Remember what? Dragons, Aemon whispered.
George R. R. MartinNobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories.
George R. R. MartinWhen you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.
George R. R. MartinFrom where I sit, battles are hard. Iโve written my share. Sometimes I employ the privateโs viewpoint, very up close and personal, dropping the reader right into the middle of the carnage. Thatโs vivid and visceral, but of necessity chaotic, and it is easy to lose all sense of the battle as a whole. Sometimes I go with the generalโs point of view instead, looking down from on high, seeing lines and flanks and reserves. That gives a great sense of the tactics, of how the battle is won or lost, but can easily slide into abstraction.
George R. R. Martin