George R. R. Martin Quotes
If I was a soldier going to war, I'd be pretty scared the night before a battle. It's a scary thing. And I want my readers to feel that fear as they turn the page.
Martin, George R. R. Interview by John Hodgman. The Sound of Young America, Maximum Fun, 12 Sept. 2011.
Nearly two years after Tripoli had declared war against the United States, the U.S., after much deliberation, decided to stop negotiating a tribute settlement with Tripoli. The U.S. launched their attack on June 11, 1803 in what would be the first amphibious operation on the Barbary Coast. After witnessing the operation, the Pasha was unmoved. Piracy and war was a way of life for the Barbary states.
Attila the Hun. The Romans aided by Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, fought the Huns in the only battle that Attila ever lost which he lost badly. There were 165,000 men killed in an afternoon. The Roman General, Flavius Aetius, had been a boyhood friend of Attila’s and had fought with him against the Visigoths. The Romans had Attila trapped but his old friend let him escape with just a good thrashing to his ego and army as to not upset the balance of power and tilt it in favor of the Goths. Roman foreign policy at the time was to keep all the Barbarians strong enough to fight one another so that none would be dominant but all weaker than Rome. Divide and conquer.
George Raymond Richard Martin, also known as GRRM, is an American novelist and short story writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019).
