One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
George R. R. MartinRead
Give a thing a name and it will somehow come to be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Naming things gives them power and reality.
This quote suggests that by giving something a name, we are granting it existence and significance in our minds and reality. Naming allows us to conceptualize and communicate about things, influencing our perception and interaction with them.
Themes
NamePowerPerceptionExistenceReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about creativity, to emphasize the importance of naming in the creative process.
More from George R. R. Martin
All quotes βI 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: βNot today.
George R. R. MartinRead
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.
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
Similar quotes
. . . the weal of the race, and the cause of humanity, here and now, are enough To give life meaning and death as well.
Edgar Lee MastersRead
Some make light of decisions, arguing that all possible decisions will occur. In such a world, how could one be responsible for his actions? Others hold that each decision must be considered and committed to, that without commitment there is chaos. Such people are content to live in contradictory worlds, so long as they know the reason for each.
Alan LightmanRead
Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend. It can be so, sometimes.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
I do value my work awfully; but in reality only consider this: all this world of ours is nothing but a speck of mildew, which has grown up on a tiny planet. And for us to suppose we can have something great - ideas, work - it's all dust and ashes.
Leo TolstoyRead
Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom.
Friedrich August Von HayekRead
There is a spiritual hunger in the world today - and it cannot be satisfied by better cars on longer credit terms.
Adlai Stevenson IRead