I agree with Balzac and 19th-century writers, black and white, who say, 'I write for money.' Yes, I think everybody should be paid handsomely; I insist on it, and I pay people who work for me, or with me, handsomely.

I think anybody who is racist is an idiot whether they are black or white.

I think the truth is black-and-white.

I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or a fool - and I'm not any of those - to say that I don't write for the reader. I do. But for the reader who hears, who really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who will pay the dues.

If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'

It's never black and white on 'Game of Thrones.' If you think it's black and white, you're watching it wrong.