Albert Einstein - Percy Bysshe Shelley - The Fall III - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine TV - William Shakespeare - Andy Warhol - Carl Jung - Terry Pratchett - Dr Seuss - J K Rowling - J R R Tolkien - Marilyn Monroe - George R R Martin - Game of Thrones TV - The Last Watch TV - The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 1989 - Lord of the Rings I 2001 - Lord of the Rings II 2002 - Alice in Wonderland 2010 - Batman 1966 - Batman 1989 - Batman Returns 1992 - Superman 1978 - Superman II 1980 - Iron Man 2008 - Iris Murdoch - Andrew Marr TV - Michio Kaku TV - The Shape of Water 2017 - Adam Curtis TV -
When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive, thinking. Albert Einstein
I seem as in a trance sublime and strange
To muse on my own separate fantasy. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mont Blanc
It’s all part of the fantasy. The fantasy that sustains him between killings. It’s about power and control and the thrill ... He’s creating his own pornography. The Fall III starring Gillian Anderson & Jamie Dornan & Laura Donnelly & Ben Peel et al, Anderson to team, BBC 2013
I have no time for fantasies. Waste of time. Too many people dream of places they’ll never go, wishes they’ll never have, instead of paying attention to their real lives. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s1e16: If Wishes Were Horses, Odo to Quark
Or is it a fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?
I prithee speak; we will not trust our eyes
Without our ears. Thou art not what thou seem’st. William Shakespeare, I Henry IV V iv 134-136, Prince Harry to Sir John
Is not this something more than fantasy? William Shakespeare, Hamlet I i 52, Barnado to Marcellus and Horatio
Everyone must have a fantasy. Andy Warhol
All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to deprecate imagination. Carl Jung
Most modern fantasy just rearranges the furniture in Tolkien’s attic. Terry Pratchett
I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Dr Seuss, writer & cartoonist
The thing about fantasy – there are certain things you just don’t do in fantasy. J K Rowling
Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? ... If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can! J R R Tolkien
I have too many fantasies to be a housewife ... I guess I am a fantasy. Marilyn Monroe
I like grey characters; fantasy for too long has been focused on very stereotypical heroes and villains. George R R Martin
They can keep their heaven. When I die, I’d sooner go to Middle Earth. George R R Martin
What do you expect? They’re savages. One lot steals a goat from another lot and before you know it they’re ripping each other to pieces. Game of Thrones s1e1: Winter is Coming, starring Sean Bean & Mark Addy & Nikolai Coster Waldau & Michelle Fairley & Lena Headey & Emilia Clarke & Iain Glen & Harry Lloyd et al, director Tim van Patten, opening scene with dump of dead bodies, Ser Waymar Royce commander, HBO 2011
Winter is coming. ibid. Sean Bean as Lord Stark
The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. ibid. Bean to boy
We were meant to rule together. ibid. King to Bean
All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eyes. ibid. dwarf
First lesson: stick them with the pointy end. Game of Thrones s1e2: The Kingsroad, Jon Snow gives Arya her sword
All the best swords have names, you know. ibid.
Five hundred men just stood there and watched. All the great knights of the Seven Kingdoms, you think anyone said a word, lifted a finger? No, Lord Stark. Five hundred men and this room was silent as a crypt ... except for the screams, of course, and the Mad King laughing. And later, when I watched the Mad King die, I remembered him laughing as your father burned ... it felt like justice. Game of Thrones s1e3: Lord Snow, Jaime Lannister
Oh, my sweet summer child. What do you know about fear? Fear is for the winter when the snows fall a hundred feet deep. Fear is for the long nights when the sun hides for years, and children are born and live and die, all in darkness. That is the time for fear, my little lord; when the white walkers move through the woods. ibid. old nan
Distrusting me was the wisest thing you’ve done since you climbed off your horse. Game of Thrones s1e4: Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things, Petyr Baelish
Your mother was a dumb whore with a fat arse! Did you know that? (Lancel dithers, then pulls off breastplate as Robert turns to Ned) Look at this idiot – one ball, and no brains! He can’t even put a man’s armour on him properly! Game of Thrones s1e5: The Wolf and the Lion, Robert Baratheon
We who presume to rule must sometimes do vile things for the good of the realm. ibid. Varys
Where do I begin, my lords and ladies? I’m a vile man; I confess it. My crimes and sins are beyond counting. I have lied and cheated. Gambled and whored. I’m not particularly good at violence, but I’m good at convincing others to do violence for me. You want specifics, I suppose? When I was seven, I saw a servant girl bathing in the river. I stole her robe. She was forced to return to the castle naked and in tears. If I close my eyes, I can still see her tits bouncing. When I was ten, I stuffed my uncle’s boots with goat shit. When confronted with my crime, I blamed a squire. Poor boy was flogged and I escaped justice. When I was twelve I milked my eel into a pot of turtle stew. I flogged the one-eyed snake. I skinned my sausage. I made the bald man cry! Game of Thrones s1e6: A Golden Crown, Tyrion Lannister
He was no dragon. Fire cannot kill a dragon. ibid. Daenerys Targaryen
When you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground. Game of Thrones s1e7: You Win or Your Die, Queen to Bean
You’ll rule now; you’ll hate it more worse than I did. But you’ll do it well. ibid. King to Bean