"Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them and they go to rust."

"Tyrion let the eunuch help him mount. "Lord Varys," he said from the saddle, "sometimes I feel as though you are the best friend I have in King's Landing and sometimes I feel you are my worst enemy." "How odd. I think quite the same of you."

"The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember that."

"There's no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it."

"A small spoon of victory is just the thing to settle the stomach before battle, " Ser Imry had declared happily."

"She is not truly beautiful but something about her draws the eye."

"Much that may seem evil can be good."

"Why would the stars want to look down on such as me?"

"And it's great to have all these readers and fans who, for the most part, are very nice people, saying they love the books and the TV show. But there are so many of them and it just doesn't end. Oh, and 'selfies'! If I could clap my hands and burn out every camera phone in the world, I swear I'd do it!"

"I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. That's why I read so much, Jon Snow."

"We Lannisters do have a certain pride," said Tyrion Lannister."Pride? Catelyn snapped. His mocking tone and easy manner made her angry. "Arrogance, some might call it. Arrogance and avarice and lust for power."My brother is undoubtedly arrogant, Tyrion Lannister replied. "My father is the soul of avarice, and my sweet sister Cersei lusts for power with every waking breath. I, however, am innocent as a little lamb. Shall I bleat for you? He grinned."

"Under the sea the old fish eat the young fish."

"I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a penis entering a vagina, and I get letters about it and people swearing off. To my mind this is kind of frustrating, it's madness. Ultimately, in the history of [the] world, penises entering vaginas have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure; axes entering skulls, well, not so much."

"She went to the window seat and sat there, sniffling, hating them all, and herself most of all. It was all her fault, everything bad that had happened."

"My sister has mistaken me for a mushroom. She keeps me in the dark and feeds me shit."

"She should be on a hill somewhere, under a fruit tree, with the sun and clouds above her and the rain to wash her clean."

"It is hard to look a hero when mounted on a pig."

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

"The only wolves we got to fear are the ones wear manskin."

"Only the innocent know the peace of untroubled sleep. Confess sins, and you will sleep like a newborn babe."

"I have become a sour woman. I take no joy in meat nor mead, and song and laughter have become suspicious strangers to me. I am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings. There is an empty place within me where my heart was once."

"Let his sword break and his shield shatter, Sansa thought coldly as she shoved out through the doors, let his courage fail him and every man desert him."

"I knew that, when writing a book, you're not constrained by a budget. You're not constrained by what you can do, in terms of the special effects technology. You're not limited to any particular running time."

"They're both bungholes who think they're too noble to shit."

"His mouth would have given despair to even the drollest of fools; it was a mouth made for frowns and scowls and sharply worded commands, all thin pale lips and clenched muscles, a mouth that had forgotten how to smile and had never known how to laugh."

"If every woman had a direwolf, men would be much sweeter."

"It was a hollow victory they gave me. A crown...it was the girl I prayed them for. Your sister, safe... and mine again as she was meant to be. I ask you, Ned, what good is it to wear a crown?"

"Words are wind."

"Can a man still be brave if he's afraid? That's the only tine a man can be brave."

"Fear cuts deeper than swords."

"If the novels are still being read in 50 years, no one is ever going to say: 'What's great about that sixth book is that he met his deadline!' It will be about how the whole thing stands up."

"Ice can kill as dead as fire."

"Torches just blind you. On a clear night like this, the moon and the stars are enough."

"Perhaps I cannot make my people good, she told herself, but I should at least try to make them a little less bad."

"All men are fools, and all men are knights where women are concerned."

"My mother said my father had a drop of dragon blood."Two drops. That, or a cock six feet long."

"Our honor means no more than our lives, so long as the realm is safe."

"There are worse ways to die than warm and drunk."

"Old stories are like old friends (...) you have to visit them from time to time."

"Arya did not dare [take a bath], even though she smelled as bad as Yoren by now, all sour and stinky. Some of the creatures living in her clothes had come all the way from Flea Bottom with her; it didn't seem right to drown them."

"Even in dreams, you could not fall forever."

"But words in a book were one thing. The true test came in battle."

"Why won't they let me be? I just need to rest, that's all, to rest and sleep some, and maybe die a little."

"And what lesson can we draw from Volantene history?"If you want to conquer the world, you best have dragons."

"Words are not swords."

"No mortal man could frighten him, no more than the darkness could, nor the bones of his soul, the grey and grisly bones of his soul."

"No". Tyrion's voice was hoarse. "Sansa is no longer yours to torment. Understand that, monster." Joffrey sneered. "You're the monster, Uncle" "Am I?" Tyrion cocked his head. "Perhaps you should speak more softly to me, then. Monsters are dangerous beasts, and just now kinds seem to be dying like flies."

"When the end comes, I will meet it raging."

"Harsh justice is still justice."

"Dying is not dead."