One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
George R. R. MartinRead
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
HeroesMonstersLifeEvilPhilosophy
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.
George R. R. MartinRead
There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: “Not today.
George R. R. MartinRead
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.
George R. R. MartinRead
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.
George R. R. MartinRead
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.
George R. R. MartinRead
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The American elite is almost beyond redemption. . . . Moral relativism has set in so deeply that the gilded classes have become incapable of discerning right from wrong. Everything can be explained away, especially by journalists. Life is one great moral mush--sophistry washed down with Chardonnay. The ordinary citizens, thank goodness, still adhere to absolutes.... It is they who have saved the republic from creeping degradation while their 'betters' were derelict.
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Time alone reveals the just man; but you might discern a bad man in a single day.
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And homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.
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Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God.
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Everything is surprising, rightly seen.
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