One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
George R. R. MartinRead
If we leave our smells behind us when we leave a room, surely something of our souls must remain when we leave this life?" - Qyburn
Interpretation
Our essence or impact lingers even after we depart, much like a scent left in a room.
This quote suggests that just as our physical presence can leave a lingering scent in a room, our souls and contributions leave an impression on the world even after we are gone. It emphasizes the idea that our identities and the memories we create have a lasting influence on others, prompting reflection on how we choose to impact the lives of those around us.
In practice
In a eulogy, to reflect on the lasting impact of a loved one.
One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
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: βNot today.
I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had.β He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. βI 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.
The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.
It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion.
The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space-each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.
I don't believe in death, neither in flesh nor in spirit.
I exist. It's sweet, so sweet, so slow. And light: you'd think it floated all by itself. It stirs. It brushes by me, melts and vanishes. Gently, gently. There is bubbling water in my mouth. I swallow. It slides down my throat, it caresses me β and now it comes up again into my mouth. For ever I shall have a little pool of whitish water in my mouth - lying low - grazing my tongue. And this pool is still me. And the tongue. And the throat is me.
Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.