WIST Quotations

Martin, George R. R. -- “With Morning Comes Mistfall,” Analog (1973-05)

Dave — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 16:26:00 +0000

“Knowledge is what man is all about. People like you have tried to hold back progress since the beginning of time. But they failed, and you failed. Man needs to know.”
“Maybe,” Sanders said, “But is that the only thing man needs? I don’t think so. I think he also needs mystery, and poetry, and romance. I think he needs a few unanswered questions, to make him brood and wonder.”

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
“With Morning Comes Mistfall,” Analog (1973-05)
(Source)

Collected in Portraits of His Children (1987)

Martin, George R. R. -- A Clash of Kings [Tyrion] (1998)

Dave — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 15:50:09 +0000

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.

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
A Clash of Kings [Tyrion] (1998)
(Source)

Martin, George R. R. -- A Dance with Dragons [Jojen Reed] (2011)

Dave — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:54:52 +0000

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
A Dance with Dragons [Jojen Reed] (2011)
(Source)

Martin, George R. R. -- A Game of Thrones, “Catelyn” 8 [Catelyn Stark] (1996)

Dave — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 22:54:26 +0000

Laughter is poison to fear.

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
A Game of Thrones, “Catelyn” 8 [Catelyn Stark] (1996)
(Source)

Martin, George R. R. -- Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone

Dave — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 16:46:04 +0000

Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it’s not that simple. Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn’t ask the question: What was Aragorn’s tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren’t gone — they’re in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles?

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone
(Source)

Martin, George R. R. -- Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone

Dave — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:11:48 +0000

The war that Tolkien wrote about was a war for the fate of civilization and the future of humanity, and that’s become the template. I’m not sure that it’s a good template, though. The Tolkien model led generations of fantasy writers to produce these endless series of dark lords and their evil minions who are all very ugly and wear black clothes. But the vast majority of wars throughout history are not like that.

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone
(Source)

Martin, George R. R. -- Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone

Dave — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 22:06:39 +0000

World War I is much more typical of the wars of history than World War II — the kind of war you look back afterward and say, “What the hell were we fighting for? Why did all these millions of people have to die? Was it really worth it to get rid of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that we wiped out an entire generation, and tore up half the continent? Was the War of 1812 worth fighting? The Spanish-American War? What the hell were these people fighting for?”

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone
(Source)

Martin, George R. R. -- Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone

Dave — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:11:23 +0000

We’re all capable of doing great things, and of doing bad things. We have the angels and the demons inside of us, and our lives are a succession of choices. Look at a figure like Woodrow Wilson, one of the most fascinating presidents in American history. He was despicable on racial issues. He was a Southern segregationist of the worst stripe, praising D.W. Griffith and The Birth of a Nation. He effectively was a Ku Klux Klan supporter. But in terms of foreign affairs, and the League of Nations, he had one of the great dreams of our time. The war to end all wars — we make fun of it now, but God, it was an idealistic dream. If he’d been able to achieve it, we’d be building statues of him a hundred feet high, and saying, “This was the greatest man in human history: This was the man who ended war.” He was a racist who tried to end war. Now, does one cancel out the other? Well, they don’t cancel out the other. You can’t make him a hero or a villain. He was both. And we’re all both.

George R. R. Martin (b. 1948) American author and screenwriter [George Raymond Richard Martin]
Interview (2014-04-23) by Mikal Gilmore, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone
(Source)