A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2)

by George R.R. Martin

“There’s no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it.

Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.” “So power is a mummer’s trick?” “A shadow on the wall,” Varys murmured, “yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.”

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

He served you the king’s cut off the roast, the meat rare and bloody, but with a savory smell that made everyone’s mouth water. The meat he served the Freys was old and grey and dead. Yet they liked their supper better than you liked yours.”

Dany nibbled at an onion and reflected ruefully on the faithlessness of men.

“Whore!” she shrieked. “Kingslayer’s whore! Brotherfucker!” Her dead child dropped from her arms like a sack of flour as she pointed at Cersei. “Brotherfucker brotherfucker brotherfucker.”