I think my very earliest stories were all intellectual exercises and I was writing from experiences I had never had about characters who were about an inch deep.

The eunuch had looked death in the face, so near he might have kissed her on the lips.

With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I'm all of the actors and I'm the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I'm all of that. So if it's good or bad, it's all up to me.

Anger was better than tears, better than grief, better than guilt.

Tyrion Lannister could not have been more astonished if Aegon the Conqueror himself had burst into the room, riding on a dragon and juggling lemon pies.

Even the sky was grey. Grey and grey and greyer. The whole world grey, everywhere you look, everything grey except the eyes of the bride. The eyes of the bride were brown. Big and brown and full of fear.

In my dreams, I kill him every night,' Robert admitted. 'A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves'.