“Pleasing one king is difficult enough. Pleasing two is hardly possible.”

“It please her to think that she made a better king than Robert.”

“Let him grow taller,she asked the gods.Let him know sixteen, and twenty, and fifty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms. Please, please, please.”

“I can . . . die as I please.”

“The maester smiled...Hush now, child, I'm much older than you. I can....die as I please.”

“Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king? When everyone was shouting King in the North, King in the North, I told myself ... swore to myself ... that I would be a good king, as honorable as Father, strong, just, loyal to my friends and brave when I faced my enemies ... now I can't even tell one from the other.”

“It is one thing to deceive a king, and quite another to hide from the cricket in the rushes and the little bird in the chimney.”