A Song of Ice and Fire

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

"Men are seldom as they appear. You look so very guilty that I am convinced of your innocence."

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

"You're going to fight that?" "I'm going to kill that."

"We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance on in our steads."

"In times like these, it is better to be insignificant"

"That was such a slippery word, may. In any language."

"A man cannot sup from the beggar's bowl all his life and stay a man."

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

"Shadows only live when given birth by the light."

"The night is dark and full of terrors, the day is bright and beautiful and full of hope."

"Is it treason to say the truth? A bitter truth, but no less true for that."

"We look up at the same stars, and see such different things."

"To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."

"You're prettier with your mouth closed."

"Somehow the laughter made her hopeful again, if only for a little while."

"All she felt was pity, and pity was death to desire."

"I never dreamed how quick the sweet would turn to sour."

"There will be pain." "I'll scream." "A great deal of pain." "I'll scream very loudly."

"There is a tool for every task, and a task for every tool."

"A knight's a sword with a horse. The rest, the vows and the sacred oils and the lady's favors, they're silk ribbons tied round the sword. Maybe the sword's prettier with ribbons hanging off it, but it will kill you just as dead."

"There is much confusion in any war."

"Men die in war, even men who are young and strong."

"These little wars are no more than a scuffle of children before what is to come."

"There is truth in the flames, but it is not always easy to see."

"Life would be much simpler if men could fuck themselves, don't you agree?"

"You call us thieves, but at least a thief has to be brave and clever and quick."

"A man can own a woman or a man can own a knife, but no man can own both."

"Men can't own the land no more'n they can own the sea or the sky."

"The oak recalls the acorn, the acorn dreams the oak, the stump lives in them both."

"“Her name is Brienne,” Jaime said. “Brienne, the maid of Tarth. You are still maiden, I hope?” Her broad homely face turned red. “Yes.” ”Oh, good,” Jaime said. “I only rescue maidens.”"

"If you keep all your treasures in one purse, you only make it easier for those who would rob you."

"Some would say it's a poor king who crowns himself with bronze, Your Grace" "Bronze and iron are stronger than gold and silver"

"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. And any man who must say "I am the king" is no king at all."

"There's a long league's worth of difference between willful and stupid."

"Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner."

"An ant who hears the words of a king may not comprehend what he is saying ... If sometimes I have mistaken a warning for a prophecy, or a prophecy for a warning, the fault lies in the reader, not the book."

"Only a starving man begs bread from a beggar."

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

"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."

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

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

"Harsh justice is still justice."