One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
There are no heroes...in life, the monsters win.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that in reality, good does not always triumph over evil, and often the darker aspects of life prevail.
George R. R. Martin's quote reflects a cynical view of life where the concept of heroes is challenged by the acknowledgment that frequently, the 'monsters' of the world—symbolizing evil and malevolence—gain the upper hand. It underscores the idea that life is not a fairy tale where good ultimately overcomes evil, but rather a complex narrative where struggles and moral ambiguity exist, leading to the triumph of darker forces.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on moral ambiguity in literature, this quote can be invoked to emphasize the complexity of characters in storytelling.
More from George R. R. Martin
All quotes →I hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal characters, and I know the major turning points and events from the books, the climaxes for each book, but I don't necessarily know each twist and turn along the way. That's something I discover in the course of writing and that's what makes writing enjoyable. I think if I outlined comprehensively and stuck to the outline the actual writing would be boring.
There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: “Not today.
I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had.’ He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. ‘I wish I had enough poison for you all. You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. I am innocent, but I will get no justice here.
But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. 'Life is not a song, sweetling,' he'd told her, 'You may learn that one day to your sorrow.' In life, the monsters win, she told herself.
I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I'm writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character.
Similar quotes
Millions of people have tried meditation and dropped out of it because they took it very seriously. Religion has been thought to be a very serious affair - it is not. One has to understand - at least those who are with me - that religion is a playfulness, a laughter. Take it easy; then things blossom without any tension. You are not taking it easy, you are making it difficult.
Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.
Every decent man of our age must be a coward and a slave. That is his normal condition. Of that I am firmly persuaded. He is made and constructed to that very end. And not only at the present time owing to some casual circumstance, but always, at all times, a decent man is bound to be a coward and a slave.
Away with the cant of 'Measures not men!'-the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along.
I'm interested in the origins of the religious experience, how the history of religion has evolved over the last umpteen thousand years, and where religiosity is going in the future. I think that's a topic I've been chewing on for a few years; I would love to eventually work on and produce a book out of it.
History is a mighty dramos, enacted upon the theatre of times, with suns for lamps and eternity for a background.