George R. R. Martin Quotes

A great memory does not make a mind, any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature.

I'm on a mission. And I know the older I get, I may lose a step or two, but it's all up in the medulla oblongata. I've got a lot up there. I've got a lot of knowledge... in this medulla oblongata.

If you will give the matter a moment's thought, you'll see that memory is the highest faculty of the human mind.

An important verity about knowledge is that the brain works most effectively with consciously retained information. We more easily remember what we want to recall later. When we feed our fourteen billion brain cells with information that will enrich us and help others, we are really learning to Think Big.

What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

It's obvious that my brain isn't what it used to be.

Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.

Do you think my mind is maturing late, or simply rotted early?

I retain what's interesting to me, but I don't have a lot of strategic depth.

Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.

Wisdom not only gets, but once got, retains.

President Reagan doesn't retain very much of what comes his way on a given day.

If we should remember everything we would be as worse off as if we remembered nothing.

The mind controls everything; it really does.

The quickness and flexibility of a well mind, a belief or hope that things will eventually sort themselves out-these are the resources lost to a person when the brain is ill.

Books remember all the things you cannot contain.

I love the human mind.

I'm aware of everything - it's my job - I keep up to speed, and I have a blessed memory. The brain chemistry I have is such that my memory is wonderful. And sometimes it's helpful, and other times it ends up being frustrating.

Memory, when duly impregnated with ascertained facts, is sometimes surprisingly fertile.

Most men have a good memory for facts connected with their own pursuits.

Mind is memory, not intelligence.

I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. [...] It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. [...] It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

...forgetting is vastly underrated as a mental operation.

The more you put in your brain, the more it will hold - if you have one.

I remember when people used to think I was smart. I remember when people used to think my brain was useful. Damaged by water, sure. And ready to seizure at any moment. But still useful, and maybe even a little bit beautiful and sacred and magical.