I find religion and spirituality fascinating. I would like to believe this isn't the end and there's something more, but I can't convince the rational part of me that that makes any sense whatsoever.

George R. R. Martin

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

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

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.

George R. R. Martin

I think in television and film, it's not usually the child's point of view. It's the story of an adult. If there's a child in a drama or an action-adventure movie, they're someone who needs to be saved, someone who needs to be protected, or if they're killed, someone who needs to be avenged. Their character doesn't matter much.

George R. R. Martin

I prefer to work with grey characters rather than black and white.

George R. R. Martin

I've always preferred writing about grey characters and human characters. Whether they are giants or elves or dwarves, or whatever they are, they're still human, and the human heart is still in conflict with the self.

George R. R. Martin

I suppose I'm a lapsed Catholic. You would consider me an atheist or agnostic.

George R. R. Martin

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

George R. R. Martin

One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.

George R. R. Martin

My characters who come back from death are worse for wear. In some ways, they're not even the same characters anymore. The body may be moving, but some aspect of the spirit is changed or transformed, and they've lost something.

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.

George R. R. Martin

The success that the Tolkien books had redefined modern fantasy.

George R. R. Martin

I have done a lot of work in Hollywood myself. I worked in television for roughly 10 years, from the mid-'80s to mid-'90s. And I was on staff at a couple of shows. I did some feature films, including originals and adaptations.

George R. R. Martin

Start with short stories. After all, if you were taking up rock climbing, you wouldn't start with Mount Everest. So if you're starting fantasy, don't start with a nine-book series.

George R. R. Martin

I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.

George R. R. Martin

'Rome' was one of my favourite shows, and I wish HBO had given it three more seasons 'cause I would have loved to continue watching it.

George R. R. Martin

There was part of me that wanted to see the world and travel to distant places, but I could only do it in my imagination, so I read ferociously and imagined things.

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

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

George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin Quotes

I find religion and spirituality fascinating. I would like to believe this isn't the end and there's something more, but I can't convince the rational part of me that that makes any sense whatsoever.

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.

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

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.

I prefer to work with grey characters rather than black and white.

I've always preferred writing about grey characters and human characters. Whether they are giants or elves or dwarves, or whatever they are, they're still human, and the human heart is still in conflict with the self.

I suppose I'm a lapsed Catholic. You would consider me an atheist or agnostic.

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

One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.

My characters who come back from death are worse for wear. In some ways, they're not even the same characters anymore. The body may be moving, but some aspect of the spirit is changed or transformed, and they've lost something.

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

The success that the Tolkien books had redefined modern fantasy.

I have done a lot of work in Hollywood myself. I worked in television for roughly 10 years, from the mid-'80s to mid-'90s. And I was on staff at a couple of shows. I did some feature films, including originals and adaptations.

Start with short stories. After all, if you were taking up rock climbing, you wouldn't start with Mount Everest. So if you're starting fantasy, don't start with a nine-book series.

I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.

'Rome' was one of my favourite shows, and I wish HBO had given it three more seasons 'cause I would have loved to continue watching it.

There was part of me that wanted to see the world and travel to distant places, but I could only do it in my imagination, so I read ferociously and imagined things.

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.

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