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.”

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

“Sorcery is the sauce fools spoon over failure to hide the flavor of their own incompetence.

Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.”

“Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”