Feather
Home People George R.R. Martin When You Play A Game Of
George R.R. Martin - placeholder

"When you play a game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

— George R.R. Martin

When You Play A Game Of

When you play a game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground.

— George R.R. Martin
power risk strategy

About this quote

Spoken by Cersei Lannister to Eddard Stark in A Game of Thrones (1996) by George R.R. Martin, and adapted in Season 1, Episode 7 of Game of Thrones (2011). The line encapsulates the brutal binary logic of Westerosi politics: power is total, and those who contest it either win everything or forfeit their lives. It is the thematic thesis of the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Source

A Game of Thrones

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.
— George R.R. Martin
The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.
— George R.R. Martin
Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.
— George R.R. Martin
View all quotes by George R.R. Martin →