It all goes back and back," Tyrion thought, "to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our steads.

I have always been a dark writer.

Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next.

The girl had hoped for fog, but the gods ignored her prayers as gods so often did.

I've always taken that as my guiding principle and the rest is just set dressing. You can have dragons in it, or aliens and starships, or a western about a gunslinger, or even literary fiction, and ultimately you're still writing about the human heart in conflict with itself.

I'm fond of all my characters so every time one doesn't make the cut I'm a little disappointed although I understand it.

Art is not a democracy. People don't get to vote on how it ends.