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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

Book by George R. R. Martin · 50 quotes · Men, Ifs, Dies

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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 Quotes

“Time is different for a tree than for a man. Sun and soil and water, these are the things a weirwood understands, not days and years and centuries. For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives of trees are different. They root and grow and die in one place, and that river does not move them. The oak is the acorn, the acorn is the oak.”

“Give me a good sharp knife and a good sharp cheese and I’m a happy man.”

“Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature. -- Lyanna”

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

“...the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." "...a ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.”

“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.”

“Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”

“Will you make a song for him?' the woman asked. 'He has a song,' the man replied. 'He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.”

“Robert was never the same after he put on that crown. Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them up and they go to rust.”

“His time was past, her handmaid Irri declared. No man should live longer than his teeth.”

“Why should death make a man truthful, or even clever? The dead are likely dull fellows, full of tedious complaints - the ground's too cold, my gravestone should be larger, why does he get more worms than I do.”

“Only a fool humbles himself when the world is so full of men eager to do that job for him. (Theon Greyjoy)”

“There are no men like me. There's only me”

“They say it grows so cold up here in winter that a man’s laughter freezes in his throat and chokes him to death,” Ned said evenly. “Perhaps that is why the Starks have so little humor.”

“And I tell you truly, Danaerys, there is no man in all the world who will ever be half so true to you as me.”

“Inside the room, a man and a woman were wrestling. They were both naked.”

“Woman?” She chuckled. “Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man.” Dany met his stare. “I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, khaleesi to Drogo’s riders, and queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.”

“The man is as useless as nipples on a breastplate.”

“The years leech at a man's memories, even those he has vowed never to forget.”

“A bag of dragons buys a man's silence for a while, but a well-placed quarrel buys it forever.”

“Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner.”

“For men, the answer was always the same and never farther away than the nearest sword. For a woman, a mother, the way was stonier and harder to know.”

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

“Those are brave men," he told Ser Balon in admiration. "Let's go kill them.”

“Speak the name, and death will come. On the morrow, at the turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there.”

“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.”

“I am surrounded by flatterers and fools. It can drive a man to madness,.. . Half of them don’t dare tell me the truth, and the other half can’t find it.”

“A man does not need to be a wizard to know truth from falsehood, not if he has eyes. You need only learn to read a face. Look at the eyes. The mouth. The muscles here, at the corners of the jaw, and here, where the neck joins the shoulders.”

“If half an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. A man is good or he is evil. (Melisandre of Asshai)”

“Woman? Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man. - Daenerys Targaryen”

“Once, I cut off a man's head, but he did not know it until he tried to brush his hair. Then it fell off.”

“I heard of a man who had a razor made of Valyrian steel. He cut his head off trying to shave.”

“You little fool. Tears are not a woman's only weapon. You've got another one between your legs, and you'd best learn to use it. You'll find men use their swords freely enough. Both kinds of swords.”

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

“Men live their lives trapped in an eternal present, between the mists of memory and the sea of shadow that is all we know of the days to come.”

“When treating with liars, even an honest man must lie.”

“If there are gods, why is the world so full of pain and injustice?' 'Because of men like you.”

“A man does not need to be a wizard to know truth from falsehood, not if he has eyes. You need only learn to read a face. Look at the eyes. The mouth. The muscles here, at the corners of the jaw, and here, where the neck joins the shoulders." He touched her lightly with two fingers. "Some liars blink. Some stare. Some look away. Some lick their lips. Many coer their mouths just before they tell a lie, as if to hide their deceit. Other signs may be more subtle, but they are always there. A false smile and a true one may look alike, but they are as different as dusk from dawn.”

“The old man laid a withered, spotted hand on his shoulder. "It hurts, boy," he said softly. "Oh, yes. Choosing . . . it has always hurt. And always will. I know.”

“I knew a man once who told me that I smiled at the wrong things." "Do you? "Only by the light of those who smile at nothing.”

“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.”

“a man who hates music can’t be trusted, I always say.”

“It's not," Mormont told him. "Gods save us, boy, you're not blind and you're not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?”

“Arya lifted her gaze from the dead man and his dead dog. Jaqen H'ghar was leaning up against the side of the Wailing Tower. When he saw her looking, he lifted a hand to his face and laid two fingers casually against his cheek.”

“Men of honor will do things for their children that they would never consider doing for themselves.”