"Before he had lost his sight, the maester had loved books as much as Samwell Tarly did. He understood the way that you could sometimes fall right into them, as if each page was a hole into another world."

"Who would cloak themselves in shame?"

"The hardest part of any battle is just before, waiting for the carnage to begin."

"Salt a slug and shame a hero, and they shrink right up."

"Even a man who has survived a hundred fights can break in his hundred and first."

"Sins can be forgiven. Crimes require punishment."

"It was one thing to slay a lion; it was another to hack his paw off and leave him bewildered."

"A swordsman should be as good as his sword."

"A swift sword stroke is a better defense than any shield"

"The path of faith was a crooked one."

"We are born to suffer, that our sufferings might make us strong."

"A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands."

"The truth is in our bones, for flesh decays and bone endures."

"The gods sometimes let us glimpse the future as we lay dying."

"Every word was bought with pain, but that was the way of the world; a man must fight to live."

"Silence is a prince's friend. Words are like arrows ... once loosed, you cannot call them back."

"She is brave as well. She had to be, to survive the life she's lived."

"What's the use of a candle that casts no light?” “It is a lesson,” Armen said, the last lesson we must learn before we don our maester’s chains. The glass candle is meant to represent truth and learning, rare and beautiful and fragile things. It is made in the shape of a candle to remind us that a maester must cast light wherever he serves, and it is sharp to remind us that knowledge can be dangerous. Wise men may grow arrogant in their wisdom, but a maester must always remain humble. The glass candle reminds us of that as well. Even after he has said his vow and donned his chain and gone forth to serve, a maester will think back on the darkness of his vigil and remember how nothing that he did could make the candle burn...for even with knowledge, some things are not possible."

"Girl or boy, we fight our battles ... but the gods let us choose our weapons"

"Which is more dangerous—the dagger brandished by an enemy, or the hidden one pressed into your back by the enemy you never see>"

"Half a mile north, the wildling encampments were stirring, their campsites sending up smoky fingers to scratch against the pale dawn sky."

"The grey sheep have closed their eyes, but the mastiff sees the truth. Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes."

"Nothing says home like the smell of a dung fire burning."

"The Fingers are a lovely place, if you happen to be a stone."

"Nothing discourages unwanted questions as much as a flow of pious bleating."

"Ser Meryn got a stubborn look on his face. “Are you telling us not to obey the king?” “The king is eight. Our first duty is to protect him, which includes protecting him from himself. Use that ugly thing you keep inside your helm. If Tommen wants you to saddle his horse, obey him. If he tells you to kill his horse, come to me.”"

"The wind ran salty fingers through her hair."

"In King's Landing, there are two sorts of people: The players and the pieces."

"They feared the man I was; the man I am they'd pity."

"I am speaking to myself, as I was, all cocksure arrogance and empty chivlary. This is what it does to you, to be too good too young."

"When the lion falls the lesser beasts move in."

"Everyone wants something, Alayne. And when you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him."

"Well, you gave the singers something to make rhymes about, I suppose that's not to be despised."

"It was not a life he'd ever dreamed of, but it was a life."

""The Wall will stop them," Jon heard himself say. He turned and said it again louder. "The Wall will stop them. The Wall defends itself." Hollow words, but he needed to say them, almost as much as his brothers needed to hear them."

"I never asked for this crown. Gold is cold and heavy on the head ..."

"Is there anything so disgusting as frozen sweat?"

"“Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game.” “What...what game?” “The only game. The game of thrones.”"

"A bag of dragons buys a man's silence for a while, but a well-placed quarrel buys it forever."

"Arya was tired of making for Riverrun. She had been making for Riverrun for years, it seemed, without ever getting there. Every time she made for Riverrun, she ended up someplace worse."

"A man is never so vulnerable in battle as when he flees. A running man is like a wounded animal to a soldier. It gets his bloodlust up."

"The boar can keep his tusks and the bear his claws. There's nothing half so mortal as a grey goose feather."

"A man who fears battle wins no victories ..."

"A valiant deed unsung is no less valiant."

"It does not matter how brave or brilliant a man is, if his commands cannot be heard."

"Is it treason to say a man is mortal?"

"A smuggler had best know men as well as tides, or he would not live to smuggle long."

"Any man can read, my lord. There is no magic needed, nor high birth."