Home / Authors / George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin Quotes

Novelist

George R. R. Martin is an American novelist, best known for his epic fantasy works, particularly the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series. His novels have gained widespread acclaim for their rich world-building, complex characters, and gripping narrative. The series has been adapted into the popular television show 'Game of Thrones'.

Filter quotes by topic

All Men Ifs Knows Song Of Ice And Fire Said Thrones Dies Kings Writing Book

Famous George R. R. Martin Quotes

“There are a number of things that I'm trying to get into the books. There's a meta-fictional aspect, if I may use that pretentious word, to writing anything. You're writing in the shadow of all the people that have gone before and, in a way, you're having a dialogue with them. As someone who's read J.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard and all the great fantasists before, this is almost my answer to them.”

People Ifs Way Writing Trying May Book Use Answers Numbers Gone Shadow Aspect Dialogue Pretentious

Author:George R. R. Martin

“A great many of the epic fantasies, from The Lord of the Rings onward, are about war, but to my mind, a lot of it doesn't really deal honestly with the consequences of war, what war does to us, as a society, what war does to us, as individuals, and the struggle for power, in the same way, and what we're fighting for.”

Way Mind Doe War Fighting Individual Deals Lord Fantasy Struggle Consequence Honestly Rings Great Men Epic

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I love fantasy. I grew up reading fantasy. But, I wanted to put a somewhat different spin on it. The whole trope of absolute good versus absolute evil, which was wonderful in the hands of J.R. Tolkien, became cliche and rote in the hands of the many Tolkien imitators that followed.”

Different Whole Hands Wanted Evil Reading Fantasy Wonderful Grew Grew Up Absolutes Versus Cliche Imitator Tropes

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I do play all the characters, when I write them, one after another. If they actually had to film me, the only one I could play would be Samwell Tarly or Hot Pie.”

Ifs Writing Play Character Would Be Film Hot Pie

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I know who's going to be on the throne [in the Gameof Thrones], at the end, so I better not say. But, there will be a few people sitting on it, before the end.”

People Knows Ends Sitting Thrones

Author:George R. R. Martin

“It's really irritating when you open a book, and 10 pages into it you know that the hero you met on page one or two is gonna come through unscathed, because he's the hero. This is completely unreal, and I don't like it.”

Knows Two Book Hero Mets Pages Unreal Irritating

Author:George R. R. Martin

“There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.”

Children Lasts Night Speak Fantasy Forever One Day South Forests Hills Hunts Hollow Deep Within Shangri

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Fiction is lies; we're writing about people who never existed and events that never happened when we write fiction, whether its science fiction or fantasy or western mystery stories or so-called literary stories. All those things are essentially untrue. But it has to have a truth at the core of it.”

People Writing Stories Lying Fiction Fantasy Happened Mystery Events Science Fiction Western Core Untrue

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Most people were startled to find out there were books that preceded Game Of Thrones. I'm a case of working forty years to be an overnight success.”

People Years Book Games Cases Forty Thrones Overnight Success

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I was just a kid selling monster stories to the kids in the projects, complete with a dramatic reading, making the werewolf sounds. My career was aborted early on because one of my main customers started to have nightmares and his mother came to my mother and my mother shut down my whole business.”

Whole Stories Kids Mother Reading Sound Careers Projects Customers Monsters Selling Dramatic Nightmare Werewolf

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I'm fond of all my characters so every time one doesn't make the cut I'm a little disappointed although I understand it.”

Littles Character Cutting Disappointed

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Generally speaking, I'm much more in favour of penises entering vaginas than axes entering skulls. But the world seems to accept the violence a lot easier than the sex.”

World Seems Sex Accepting Violence Easier Entering Favour Skulls Axes

Author:George R. R. Martin

“One of the hardest parts of writing is writing from the gut or the heart or something like that rather than intellectually.”

Writing Heart Hardest Guts

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I think my very earliest stories were all intellectual exercises and I was writing from experiences I had never had about characters who were about an inch deep.”

Thinking Writing Character Stories Exercise Intellectual Inches

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I always give my students exercises where they really have to open a vein and bleed all over the paper and that's the way you get the important characters. Sooner or later every writer worth reading writes a story his mother wouldn't read and having to get that stuff out is part of one's growth as a writer.”

Way Giving Writing Important Character Stories Mother Reading Stuff Growth Students Exercise Paper Sooner Or Later Veins Worth Reading

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I'm not a writer who's preaching some particular philosophy or something but the big questions do concern me and I like to make my readers think and debate and argue with each other and look at some aspect of the world or some act of governance or war or power and have an angle they haven't considered before, and that's something I strive for and hopefully have accomplished.”

Thinking World Looks War Philosophy Bigs Havens Particular Reader Concern Aspect Strive Arguing Debate Hopefully Accomplished Preaching Angle Governance Big Questions

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I feel satisfaction at the end of the day when I've written a scene that I really like or when I write a good line of dialogue that I read out to my wife or something like that. But there's also days where it's just bloody agony and I go, 'ugh, this is such crap! Why did I think I had any talent?”

Thinking Feels Writing Ends Lines Wife Written Talent Scene Satisfaction My Wife Dialogue The End Of The Day Agony Bloody Crap Ugh

Author:George R. R. Martin

“It's very hard to find a good child actor. There are a lot of child actors out there, especially in America, and they're cute kids, but most child actors appear on sitcoms where their main role is to be cute and make funny little remarks.”

Children Littles Hard Kids America Actors Roles Cute Remarks Sitcom Child Actors Cute Kid

Author:George R. R. Martin

“We're all the heroes of our own stories. So, when I am inside the head of a character who would otherwise be considered a villain, I have a great deal of affection for that character and I'm trying to see the world and the events through their eyes.”

World Trying Character Stories Eye Deals Events Hero Affection Villain

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Historical fiction is not history. You're blending real events and actual historical personages with characters of your own creation.”

Real Character Fiction Events Creation Historical Historical Fiction

Author:George R. R. Martin

“We know truth for the cruel instrument it is. Beauty is infinitely preferable to truth.”

Knows Beauty Truth Is Instruments

Book:George R. R. Martin Starter Pack 4-Book Bundle: A Game of Thrones, Dreamsongs: Volume I, Fevre Dream, Armageddon Rag

Source: George R. R. Martin Starter Pack 4-Book Bundle: A Game of Thrones, Dreamsongs: Volume I, Fevre Dream, Armageddon Rag

“The truth of it is, writers do have peculiar relationships with their characters. They are our children in more senses than one. They are born of our imaginations, carry much of ourselves in them, and embody whatever dreams we dream of immortality.”

Children Character Dream Born Imagination Our Children Senses Immortality Peculiar

Author:George R. R. Martin

“That little touch is not in the books, but I wish it had been in the books because it was a great addition.”

Littles Book Wish

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I thank you for calling them off, young ser. I promise you, they would have found me indigestible.”

Young Found Calling Promise I Promise

Book:A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle: A Song of Ice and Fire Series: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows

Source: A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle: A Song of Ice and Fire Series: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows

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

Book:George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire Series): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and and A Dance with Dragons

Source: George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire Series): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and and A Dance with Dragons

“If somebody dies and you just go get more popcorn, it’s a superficial experience isn’t it?”

Ifs Dies Superficial Popcorn

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Start trying to work out who deserves what, and before long you'll spend the rest of your days weeping for each and every person in the world.”

World Trying Persons Long Deserve Work Out Weeping

Author:George R. R. Martin

“When the end comes, I will meet it raging.”

Author:George R. R. Martin

“There is an empty place within me where my heart once was.”

Heart My Heart Empty Empty Places Catelyn Stark

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Nothing someone says before the word 'but' really counts.”

Author:George R. R. Martin

“There are two kinds of writers. There are architects and gardeners. The architects do blueprints before they drive the first nail. The gardeners just dig a hole and plant the seed and see what comes up.”

Firsts Kind Two Plant Come Up Seeds Holes Architect Nails Gardener Blueprints

Author:George R. R. Martin

“The most important thing for any aspiring writer, is to read! And not just the sort of thing you're trying to write, be that fantasy, SF, comic books, whatever. You need to read everything.”

Needs Writing Trying Important Book Fantasy Important Things Comic Comic Book Aspiring Writers

Author:George R. R. Martin

“You can't just pick people for their hair color or the shape of their face. You have to go with the best actors.”

People Faces Actors Color Hair Shapes Picks

Author:George R. R. Martin

“There are a lot of people out there who will write books, in which everything turns out nicely and the bad guys lose, the good guys win, the boy gets the girl and they live happily ever after. There's a million books like that and if that's the comfort you're looking for, you should read those books and not my books because that's not the kind of book that I am interested in.”

People Ifs Should Writing Kind Book Guy Turns Girl Winning Loses Boys Millions Comfort Bad Guys Good Guy Happily Ever After Ever After

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Not all books are for all people. We read for different reasons.”

People Book Different Reason

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I believe that women are many different types of people. There are brave women, there are cowardly women, there are altruistic women, there are selfish women. Most people are a combination of the same.”

People Believe Different I Believe Type Brave Selfish Combination Cowardly Brave Women

Author: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?”

Years Firsts Two Book Next Two Years Coming Out Mail Two Days The Next One

Author:George R. R. Martin

“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.”

Writing Book Real Sometimes Seems Remember Life Is Loses Events Real Life Odd Better Than You Losing Yourself Odd Things

Author:George R. R. Martin

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

Stories Hero Villain

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Of course it’s not enough to be a good man to be an effective ruler and it never has been.”

Men Has Beens Enough Courses Good Man Rulers

Author:George R. R. Martin

“An awful lot of fantasy, and even some great fantasy, falls into the mistake of assuming that a good man will be a good king, that all that is necessary is to be a decent human being and when you're king everything will go swimmingly.”

Men Humans Fall Human Beings Mistake Fantasy Kings Assuming Awful Decent Good Man Good Kings

Author:George R. R. Martin

“A lot of writing takes place in the subconscious, and it's bound to have an effect.”

Writing Effects Bounds Subconscious

Author:George R. R. Martin

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

Certain Powerful Fiction Amount

Author: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.”

Knows Problem Happens Fiction Historical Historical Fiction

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Believe it or not, I worked four summers in college as a sports writer covering baseball for a parks and rec department in Bayonne, N.J.”

Believe Sports Four College Summer Baseball Parks Department Covering Parks And Rec

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Don't write outlines; I hate outlines.”

Writing Hate I Hate Outlines

Author:George R. R. Martin

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

Book Kids Couple Noses

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I have a huge emotional attachment to characters I've created, especially the viewpoint characters.”

Character Emotional Huge Attachment Viewpoints

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I have always been a dark writer.”

Author:George R. R. Martin

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

Two Fiction Fantasy Birth Skins Historical Genre Historical Fiction

Author:George R. R. Martin