A fair bargain leaves both sides unhappy.

A great many of the epic fantasies, from The Lord of the Rings onward, are about war, but to my mind, a lot of it doesn't really deal honestly with the consequences of war, what war does to us, as a society, what war does to us, as individuals, and the struggle for power, in the same way, and what we're fighting for.

It's not," Mormont told him. "Gods save us, boy, you're not blind and you're not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?

In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining.

We only make peace with our enemies. That's why it's called making peace.

I have idea files of books that I want to write one of these days, stories I want to write one of these days, but I'll probably never get to them.

I'm sorry that I never trusted you. I don't know how to do that anymore.