I will teach them what it means to put a lion in a cage, Cersei thought.

The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer.

Children are a battle of a different sort. ... A battle without banners or warhorns but no less fierce.

Catelyn had never liked this godswood. She had been born a Tully, at Riverrun far to the south, on the Red Fork of the Trident. The godswood there was a garden, bright and airy, where tall redwoods spread dappled shadows across tinkling streams, birds sang from hidden nests, and the air was spicy with the scent of flowers.

Small men oft feel a need to prove their courage with unseemly boasts," he declared. "I doubt if he could kill a duck." Tyrion shrugged. "Fetch the duck.

I never wanted to see half the things I've seen, and I've never seen half the things I wanted to. I don't think wanting comes into it. You'd best go all the same.

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