61 George R.R. Martin Quotes About Life (READING)

Top 10 Most Famous George R.R. Martin Quotes (BEST)

“As Faulkner says, all of us have the capacity in us for great good and for great evil, for love but also for hate. I wanted to write those kinds of complex character in a fantasy, and not just have all the good people get together to fight the bad guy.”
George R.R. Martin

Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories. — Nobody is a villain in their own story. We’re all the heroes of our own stories.

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one. — A **reader** lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.

A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.

Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
George R.R. Martin

The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. — The best fantasy is written in the language of **dreams**.

Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.

Once you’ve accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.

It is the journey that matters, not how fast you arrive at the destination.

12 WiseGeorge R.R. Martin Quotes that Will Make You Think (WISDOM)

“What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms… or the memory of a brother’s smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.”
George R.R. Martin

Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side? — Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what’s on the other side?

You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn't give you the power to reform, or improve, or build. — You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or **improve**, or build.

Only a fool humbles himself when the world is so full of men eager to do the job for him. — Only a fool **humbles** himself when the world is so full of men eager to do the job for him.

It is one thing to be clever and another to be wise. — It is one thing to be clever and another to be **wise**.

We all need to be mocked from time to time, lest we take ourselves too seriously.

Opening your eyes is all that is needing. The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true.

Different times sometimes lead to the same castle.

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

In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which.

Love is madness, and lust is poison. — **Love** is madness, and lust is poison.

There are some examples of medieval kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings. — There are some examples of **medieval** kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings.

10 George R.R. Martin Quotes About Life

A man must know how to look before he can hope to see. — A man must know how to look before he can **hope** to see.

The past remains the past. We can learn from it but we cannot change it. — The past remains the past. We can **learn** from it but we cannot **change** it.

Every man who walks the earth casts a shadow on the world.

Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities. — Death is so terribly final, while **life** is full of possibilities.

Words are like arrows. Once loose, you cannot call them back.

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

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

There has to be a level of joy of what you're doing. — There has to be a level of joy of what you’re doing.

You’re mine as I’m yours. And if we die, we die. But first we’ll live.

When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.

2 George R.R. Martin Quotes on Truth

People often claim to hunger for truth but seldom like the taste when it’s served up. — People often claim to hunger for **truth** but seldom like the taste when it’s served up.

Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. — Most men would rather deny a hard **truth** than face it.

6 George R.R. Martin Quotes on Fear

“Never fear the darkness… The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother’s milk. Darkness will make you strong.”
George R.R. Martin

Can a man still be brave if he's afraid? That is the only time a man can be brave. — Can a man still be **brave** if he’s afraid? That is the only **time** a man can be brave.

The man who fears losing has already lost.

Fear cuts deeper than swords. — **Fear** cuts deeper than swords.

Laughter is poison to fear. — Laughter is poison to **fear**.

When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.

12 George R.R. Martin Quotes on Books and Reading

“If you’re going to write about war, which my books are about, wars are nasty things. I think it’s sort of a cheap, easy way out to write a war story in which no one ultimately dies.”
George R.R. Martin

“I’m a huge fan of Tolkien. I read those books when I was in junior high school and high school, and they had a profound effect on me. I’d read other fantasy before, but none of them that I loved like Tolkien.”
George R.R. Martin

All fiction has to have a certain amount of truth in it to be powerful. — All fiction has to have a certain amount of **truth** in it to be powerful.

“We write books we want to read. And I want to read books that are richly textured and full of sensory detail, books that make me feel as if I am experiencing a story.”
George R.R. Martin

We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us.

“Whether you’re a history buff or a fantasy fan, Druon’s epic will keep you turning pages. This was the original game of thrones. If you like ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, you will love ‘The Accursed Kings’.”
George R.R. Martin

I have always regarded historical fiction and fantasy as sisters under the skin, two genres separated at birth.

“With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I’m all of the actors and I’m the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I’m all of that. So if it’s good or bad, it’s all up to me.”
George R.R. Martin

As much as I love historical fiction, my problem with historical fiction is that you always know what's going to happen. — As much as I love historical fiction, my problem with historical fiction is that you always know what’s going to happen.

“Nothing bores me more than books where you read two pages and you know exactly how it’s going to come out. I want twists and turns that surprise me, characters that have a difficult time and that I don’t know if they’re going to live or die.”
George R.R. Martin

I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.

6 George R.R. Martin Quotes on Writing

“The odd thing about being a writer is you do tend to lose yourself in your books. Sometimes it seems like real life is flickering by and you’re hardly a part of it. You remember the events in your books better than you remember the events that actually took place when you were writing them.”
George R.R. Martin

I work for two years on a book and it comes out and two days later I've got my first e-mail: When is the next one coming out? — I work for two years on a book and it comes out and two days later I’ve got my first e-mail: When is the next one coming out?

“I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I’m writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character.”
George R.R. Martin

I'm one of those writers who say, 'I've enjoy having written.' — I’m one of those writers who say, ‘I’ve enjoy having written.’

“I have many books that I want to write; I’d like to think that I’ll be around for another 20 years or so and write another dozen novels, probably some sort of imaginative literature… Never again another seven-volume saga.”
George R.R. Martin

I've said in many interviews that I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense. — I’ve said in many interviews that I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense.

3 George R.R. Martin Quotes on Game of Thrones

“I will hurt you for this. I don’t know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you’ll know the debt is paid.”
George R.R. Martin