George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin (born September 20, 1948) is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction.
Sourced
- In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which.
- Interview with Infinity Plus, February 2001
- Simple: The hardest part in the battle between good and evil is finding out which is which.
- Tolkien made the wrong choice when he brought Gandalf back. Screw Gandalf. He had a great death and the characters should have had to go on without him.
- on a panel at Odyssey Con 2008, April 2008
- Simple: J. R. R. Tolkien made the wrong choice when he revived Gandalf (a wizard in his books, The Lord of the Rings.) He had a good death and the other people should have had to live without him.
- Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be.
- Official blog, July 2007
- Simple: When all my books are finished, no one is going to care about how fast I wrote them. The only thing that anyone will care about and remember, is how good they were. That's my main focus, writing the books well, not quickly, and it always will be.
- I was always intensely Romantic, even when I was too young to understand what that meant.
- Interview with Infinity Plus, February 2001
- Simple: I was always very Romantic, even when I was a child and too young to understand what it meant.
- Art is not a democracy. People don't get to vote on how it ends.
- Interview with GamePro magazine, 8 April 2003
- Simple: In art, people do not get to decide how it ends, just the author.
- I've been killing characters my entire career, maybe I'm just a bloody minded bastard, I don't know, (but) when my characters are in danger, I want you to be afraid to turn the page (and to do that) you need to show right from the beginning that you're playing for keeps.
- Audio Interview with Geekson in Episode 54, 08/04/06
- Simple: I've been killing people in my books my entire life, maybe I just have an evil mind, I do not know, but when the people in my books are in danger, I want you to be afraid to read more, and for that to happen, you need to show from the beginning that you're willing to kill them.
- As a writer, my goal, (which I'm never going to achieve, and I know that, and no writer can achieve that,) but my goal is to make you almost live the books... I want you to fall through that page and feel as if these things are happening to you.
- Audio Interview with Geekson in Episode 54, 08/04/06
- Simple: As a writer, my goal in life, and I know I can never do it, no one can, but I want to make the reader almost live the books...I want the reader to fall into the book and feel as if the things are happening to them.
- There are many different kinds of writers, I like to use the analogy of architects and gardeners. There are some writers who are architects, and they plan everything, they blueprint everything, and they know before the drive the first nail into the first board what the house is going to look like and where all the closets are going to be, where the plumbing is going to run, and everything is figured out on the blueprints before they actually begin any work whatsoever. And then there are gardeners who dig a little hole and drop a seed in and water it with their blood and see what comes up, and sort of shape it. They sort of know what seed they've planted - whether it's an oak or an elm, or a horror story or a science fiction story, but they don't how big it's going to be, or what shape it's going to take. I am much more a gardener than an architect.
- Audio Interview with Geekson in Episode 54, 08/04/06
- Simple: There are many different kinds of writers, I call them architects and gardeners. Some, the architects, plan everything in the story out from the beginning, and others, the gardeners, allow the story to tell itself, and see where it ends up. I am much more of a gardener then an architect.
- Sure. Some of the reviews have been very flattering, but the series is not finished yet. The end needs to be as strong as the beginning.
- Interview with SFFWorld, May, 17
- Simple: Some of the reviews have been very good, but they don't mean much until it is finished. The ending needs to be as good as the beginning.
A Song of Ice and Fire (1996-)
- A knight who remembered his vows.
- Steely Pate in The Hedge Knight (1998). Describing Duncan the Tall, to explain why the commoners are on his side.
- Simple: A knight who did what he swore to do.
- About the quote: Duncan has just defended a women against a cruel Prince.
- Winter is coming.
- Words of House Stark
- Valar morghulis.
- An old saying in High Valyrian
- About the quote: It translates into the "Common Tongue" (English) to "All men must die"
A Game of Thrones (1996)
- "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?"
"That is the only time a man can be brave."- Bran & Ned. Bran(I)
- Simple: The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid and overcomes the fear.
- A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.
- Lord Eddard Stark. Bran(I)
- Simple: A ruler who gets others to kill people for him will forget what death is.
- When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.
- Cersei Lannister in Chapter 48, Eddard (XII)
- Simple: In politics you do really well, or really bad. There is no middle ground.
- 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. They never are.
- Ser Jorah Mormont in Chapter 23, Daenerys (III)
- Context: Daenerys claims the commoners are praying for her to return and claim her rightful throne.
- Simple: The common people do not care who rules them, only that they can live well in peace.
- I beg to differ. Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities.
- Tyrion Lannister in Chapter 9, Tyrion (II)
- Context: After Bran's fall Jaime says the merciful thing would be to kill him.
- Simple: Any form of life, even as a cripple, is better than death.
A Clash of Kings (1998)
- "Tell me, Bronn. If I told you to kill a babe . . . an infant girl, say, still at her mother's breast . . . would you do it? Without question?"
"Without question? No." The sellsword rubbed thumb and forefinger together. "I'd ask how much."- Tyrion and Bronn, Tyrion (II)
- Simple: If I told you to kill a baby, would you do it, without asking any questions? No, I would ask how much
- Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies.
- Stannis Baratheon (Catelyn III)
- Simple: A ruler has no friends, only those who are loyal, and those who would kill him.
- There are no men like me. There's only me.
- Jaime Lannister in Chapter 56, Catelyn (VII)
- So many vows . . . they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or the other.
- Jaime Lannister in Chapter 56, Catelyn (VII)
- Simple: They make me swear to do so many things. It's impossible to not break one or the other.
A Storm of Swords (2000)
- You know nothing, Jon Snow.
- Ygritte
- "Another name? Oh, certainly. And when the Faceless Men come to kill me, I'll say, 'No, you have the wrong man, I'm a different dwarf with a hideous facial scar.'"
Both Lannisters laughed at the absurdity of it all.- Tyrion to Jaime
- Simple: What good will a different name make? When the assasins come to kill me, I'll say 'no, you have the wrong person, I'm a different short person with an ugly scar on my face' Both of the brothers laughed.
A Feast for Crows (2005)
- "The war of the Ninepenny Kings?" [asked Hyle Hunt.]
"So they called it, though I never saw a king, nor earned a penny. It was a war though. That it was."- Brienne
- I fear what little law and order left to us by the five kings will not survive the three Queens.
- Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish
A Dance with Dragons (2009?)
- Burning dead children had ceased to trouble Jon Snow; live ones were another matter.
- Jon (I)