The best Quotes from Tales of Dunk and Egg

Dreams were a treacherous ground on which to build.

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

I am going to clout you in the ear so hard your head will turn around backwards, and you'll spend the rest of your life looking at where you've been.

A hedge knight must hold tight to his pride. Without it, he was no more than a sellsword.

Better a beggar than a thief.

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

Egg has the truth of it. Aerion's quite the monster. He thinks he's a dragon in human form, you know. That's why he was so wroth at that puppet show. A pity he wasn't born a Fossoway, then he'd think himself an apple and we'd all be a deal safer, but there you are.

Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride?

A Hedge Knight is the truest kind of knight, Dunk. Other Knights serve the Lords who keep them, or from whom they hold their lands, but we serve where we will, for men whose causes we believe in. Every Knight swears to protect the weak, but we keep the vow the best, I think.

"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."

Hard things only grow harder if you put them off.

"Outwitted by a boy of ten." Dunk looked at Egg and silently mouthed the words "clout in the ear". The boy grinned.

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

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.

Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall.

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

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

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only once."

Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them.

'You know nothing, Jon Snow'
- Ygritte

When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.

And who are you, the proud lord said,
that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat,
that's all the truth I know.
In a coat of gold or a coat of red,
a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my lord,
as long and sharp as yours.
And so he spoke, and so he spoke,
that lord of Castamere,
But now the rains weep o'er his hall,
with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,
and not a soul to hear.

All that Syrio Forel had taught her went racing through her head. Swift as a deer. Quiet as a shadow. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Quick as a snake. Calm as still water. Fear cuts deeper than swords. The man who fears losing has already lost. Fear cuts deeper than swords.

The G-Men won a couple of nail biters, including a victory over the Packers in London that was as shocking to me as it must have been to Aaron Rodgers. I had almost forgotten how good it feels to win.

As it happens, HBO and I have our own animated projects, set in the world of A Song Of Ice & Fire. None of them have been greenlit yet, but I think we are getting close to taking the next step with a couple of them.

Our supposed rivalry with Rings of Power mostly exists in the media. Nothing would please me more than to see both shows succeed. I am a fantasy fan, and I want more fantasy on television, and nothing would accomplish that more than a couple of big hits.

My old grandmother always used to say, Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.

Nothing burns like the cold.

I am much more of a gardener. My stories grow and evolve and change as I write them.

Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in GAME OF THRONES you will also see in THE WINDS OF WINTER (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.

All Knights must bleed. Blood is the seal of our devotion.

I am anticipating House of the Dragon pretty eagerly myself, for what it's worth. Okay, I am hardly objective. And I know a lot of what you will be seeing. I, um, wrote the book.

They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to Middle-earth.

The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams.

Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie.

Surely iron cannot be forged without fire? Most peculiar indeed.

The next time you raise a hand to me will be the last time you have hands.

There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin, and no war so bloody as a war between dragons.

A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone.

When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies.

Harwin Strong: "You're asleep in front of the Commander of the City Watch. Terrible lack of respect."
Rhaenyra: "A certain insolence runs in the family, I'm afraid."

Money buys a man's silence for a time, a bolt in the heart buys it forever.

Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep are never safe.​

Death is certain, the time is not.

You waste time trying to get people to love you, you'll end up the most popular dead man in town.