A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

A great battle is a terrible thing," the old knight said, "but in the midst of blood and carnage, there is sometimes also beauty, beauty that could break your heart.

The snail may leave a trail of slime behind him, but a little slime will do a man no harm, while if you dance with dragons, you must expect to burn.

Oak and iron, guard me well, or else I'm dead, and doomed to hell.

And the crow once called the raven black.

all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned.

How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes and one.

Hard things only grow harder if you put them off.

Some words are wind, ser. Some are treason.

Is that gallantry I smell, or just stupidity? The two scents are much alike, as I recall.

Never refuse a cup of wine or a horn of ale,” Ser Arlan had once told him, “it may be a year before you see another.

Pain was as much a part of knighthood as were swords and shields.

Better a beggar than a thief.

The summers have been shorter since the last dragon died, and the winters longer and crueler.

Reading books by candlelight will make you blind.""I need the candlelight to see the words, ser.""Do you want a clout in the ear?

My brothers have my measure when it comes to fighting and dancing and thinking and reading books, but none of them is half my equal at lying insensible in the mud.

I dreamed of you and a dead dragon, Egg's brother Daeron said to him. A great beast, huge, with wings so large they could cover this meadow. It had fallen on top of you, but you were alive and the dragon was dead. And so he was, poor Baelor. Dreams were a treacherous ground on which to build.

Even a hedge knight has his honor.

One foe at a time, that was what the old man always said.

The sword was not the kingdom, he says.

We are one. Man, horse, lance, we are one beast of blood and wood and iron.

Trueborn children are made in a marriage bed and blessed by the Father and the Mother, but bastards are born of lust and weakness.

Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride?

Would you rather die with honor intact or live with it besmirched?

Look or be devoured.

An honorable death is well and good, but if the life at stake is not your own, what then?

I am Thunder and Thunder is me, we are one beast, we are joined, we are one.

Every boy dreams of serving in the Kingsguard.

A falling star brings luck to him who sees it, Dunk thought. But the rest of them are all in their pavilions by now, staring up at silk instead of sky. So the luck is mine alone.

But peasant's pride is lordling's shame.

Sometimes it seemed as though he’d thumped his head on half the doors in Westeros, not to mention every beam in every inn from Dorne up to the Neck.