Top 500 George R.R. Martin Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true.”

— George R.R. Martin

52. “Love is the bane of honor, the death of duty.”

— George R.R. Martin

53. “Women do not forget. Women do not forgive.”

— George R.R. Martin

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

— George R.R. Martin

55. “If? The word is when.”

— George R.R. Martin

56. “Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”

— George R.R. Martin

57. “There are no men like me. There’s only me.”

— George R.R. Martin

58. “Too stupid to learn and too stupid to give up.”

— George R.R. Martin

59. “The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.”

— George R.R. Martin

60. “For they are the knights of summer, and winter is coming.”

— George R.R. Martin

61. “Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.”

— George R.R. Martin

62. “A true man does what he will, not what he must.”

— George R.R. Martin

63. “My old grandmother always used to say, summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.”

— George R.R. Martin

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

— George R.R. Martin

65. “Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is STARK.”

— George R.R. Martin

66. “Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I’ll sleep more easily by night.”

— George R.R. Martin

67. “I had a couple of friends, but I was mostly the kid with his nose in a book.”

— George R.R. Martin

68. “Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?”

— George R.R. Martin

69. “Kind? How boring that would be. I aspire to be wicked.”

— George R.R. Martin

70. “Control your generosity when dealing with a chronic borrower.”

— George R.R. Martin

71. “Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna, and thousands died for it.”

— George R.R. Martin

72. “Some allies are more dangerous than enemies.”

— George R.R. Martin

73. “A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.”

— George R.R. Martin

74. “They can keep their heaven. When I die, I’d sooner go to Middle Earth.”

— George R.R. Martin

75. “First rule, stick them with the pointy end!”

— George R.R. Martin

76. “All fiction has to have a certain amount of truth in it to be powerful.”

— George R.R. Martin

77. “Art is not a democracy. People don’t get to vote on how it ends.”

— George R.R. Martin

78. “The common people pray for rain, healthy children and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.”

— George R.R. Martin

79. “Know the men who follow you and let them know you. Don’t ask your men to die for a stranger.”

— George R.R. Martin

80. “I was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. I grew up in the projects. I never went anywhere. But I have lived a thousand lives and I’ve loved a thousand loves. I’ve walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read.”

— George R.R. Martin

81. “The greatest fools are ofttimes more clever than the men who laugh at them.”

— George R.R. Martin

82. “Words are wind, Brienne told herself. They cannot hurt you. Let them wash over you.”

— George R.R. Martin

83. “Tears aren’t a woman’s only weapon.”

— George R.R. Martin

84. “You mistake patience for forbearance.”

— George R.R. Martin

85. “They will not love me, you say? When have they ever loved me? How can I lose something I have never owned? – Stannis.”

— George R.R. Martin

86. “All the world knew that a maester forged his silver link when he learned the art of healing – but the world preferred to forget that men who knew how to heal also knew how to kill.”

— George R.R. Martin

87. “I am the blood of the dragon. Do not presume to teach me lessons.”

— George R.R. Martin

88. “I’m honest. It’s the world that’s awful.”

— George R.R. Martin

89. “I never wanted to see half the things I’ve seen, and I’ve never seen half the things I wanted to. I don’t think wanting comes into it. You’d best go all the same.”

— George R.R. Martin

90. “One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found.”

— George R.R. Martin

91. “We’re children. We’re supposed to be childish.”

— George R.R. Martin

92. “I had this desire to see the world. I couldn’t see any of it, but I saw it in my imagination, and that’s why I always read books, and I could go to Mars or Middle Earth or the Hyborian age.”

— George R.R. Martin

93. “On the gallows tree, all men are brothers.”

— George R.R. Martin

94. “The things I do for love.”

— George R.R. Martin

95. “It had been more of a wish, actually, but it sounded better to call it a dream.”

— George R.R. Martin

96. “Madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.”

— George R.R. Martin

97. “Winter is coming.”

— George R.R. Martin

98. “When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.”

— George R.R. Martin

99. “But my philosophy is that plot advancement is not what the experience of reading fiction is about. If all we care about is advancing the plot, why read novels? We can just read Cliffs Notes.”

— George R.R. Martin

100. “The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”

— George R.R. Martin