Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.

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

I try to make the readers feel they've lived the events of the book. Just as you grieve if a friend is killed, you should grieve if a fictional character is killed. You should care. If somebody dies and you just go get more popcorn, it's a superficial experience isn't it?

Cersei Lannister: I shall wear this as a badge of honor. Robert Barathon: Wear it in silence or I'll honor you again.

I watch NFL football on Sundays. I enjoy gaming with friends, meaning role-playing games; I still enjoy going to conventions and traveling.

And for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.

Can they love without a word for it?