Born on 20 September 1948, George R.R. Martin is an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, best known for his series of epic fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the cultural phenomenon HBO series – Game of Thrones.

Martin began writing at an early age and used to earn some extra pennies by selling his short stories to children in his neighborhood. Monster stories were his specialty back then, but he made his first professional sale at the age of 21 – The Hero was Martin’s first published work and gave him just enough motivation to continue writing.

A big fan of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Martin never imagined that his work would one day become addictive to fans all over the world. But here we are!

In his masterpiece, A Song of Ice and Fire, the author shows no mercy to his characters, and maybe that’s why we love it so much. We sometimes feed on stories where good triumphs over evil, yet we know that “life happens” to everyone, irrespective of how good or bad people are. In his fantasy tales, Martin reflects the reality of war, which is mostly unexpected and unfair.

Here are 25 George R.R. Martin quotes that show fantasy and reality sometimes overlap.

Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.

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

Opening your eyes is all that is needing. The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true.

Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.

Every man who walks the earth casts a shadow on the world.

We look up at the same stars, and see such different things.

Never fear the darkness… The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother’s milk. Darkness will make you strong.

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.

Laughter is poison to fear.

Words are like arrows. Once loose, you cannot call them back.

The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real.

Bran thought about it. ‘Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?’

‘That is the only time a man can be brave,’ his father told him.

Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old.

When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.

In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which.

Every flight begins with a fall.

You’re mine as I’m yours. And if we die, we die. But first we’ll live.

We all need to be mocked from time to time, lest we take ourselves too seriously.

A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.

A man must know how to look before he can hope to see.

People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it’s served up.

Nobody is a villain in their own story. We’re all the heroes of our own stories.

My smile is my servant, he should come at my command.

The man who fears losing has already lost.