When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it

His eyes were open wounds beneath his heavy brows, a blue as dark as the sea by night.

Love is madness, and lust is poison.

A lot of writing takes place in the subconscious, and it's bound to have an effect.

History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again.

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?

Ser Jaime?" Even in soiled pink satin and torn lace, Brienne looked more like a man in a gown than a proper woman."I am grateful, but...you were well away. Why come back?" A dozen quips came to mind, each crueler than the one before, but Jaime only shrugged. "I dreamed of you," he said.