I want you to be afraid to turn the page (and to do that) you need to show right from the beginning that you're playing for keeps.

That little touch is not in the books, but I wish it had been in the books because it was a great addition.

The vast majority of writers out there, they finish their books and no one cares whether their book is late or ever comes out at all. And then it comes out and two reviews are published and it sells 12 copies.

There are ghosts everywhere," Ser Jorah said softly. "We carry them with us wherever we go.

When your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you

Drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks. At the center of the garden, beside the statue of the weeping woman that lay broken and half-buried on the ground, she turned her face up to the sky and closed her eyes. She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams.

Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time.