There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs.

Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it's not that simple... Real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with... My people who are trying to rule don't have an easy time of it. Just having good intentions doesn't make you a wise king.

I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off.

The gods don’t care about men, no more than kings care about peasants.

Fire consumes, but cold preserves.

Of all the bright cruel lies they tell you, the cruelest is the one called love.

The Lord of Winterfell would always be a Stark