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Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.
George R. R. Martin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Love can be beautiful but also harmful, and it can lead to destructive consequences.

This quote by George R. R. Martin suggests that while love may feel sweet and pleasurable, akin to a poison that might initially taste good, it also has the potential to be dangerously harmful. It reflects on the dual nature of love—how it can lead to both bliss and suffering, ultimately highlighting the risks involved in deeply emotional connections.

Themes

LovePoisonDangerRelationshipsEmotion

In practice

Example use cases

In a romantic speech at a wedding, discussing the complexities of love.

More from George R. R. Martin

One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
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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.
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There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: “Not today.
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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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Albert Camus wrote that the only serious question is whether to kill yourself or not. Tom Robbins wrote that the only serious question is whether time has a beginning and an end. Camus clearly got up on the wrong side of bed, and Robbins must have forgotten to set the alarm. There is only one serious question. And that is: Who knows how to make love stay? Answer me that and I will tell you whether or not to kill yourself.
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Kiss me with rain on your eyelashes, come on, let us sway together, under the trees, and to hell with thunder.
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