Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.

The line is spoken by Tyrion Lannister to Jon Snow early in George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire. It appears in the first volume, A Game of Thrones, during their initial conversations at Winterfell, where Jon is marked by the stigma of being a “bastard” and is preparing to leave for the Night’s Watch. Tyrion—himself routinely mocked for his dwarfism—offers hard-won advice about surviving a society that weaponizes perceived defects. The counsel reflects both characters’ outsider status within the rigid honor culture of Westeros and foreshadows the series’ recurring theme that identity, once owned, can be turned from vulnerability into leverage.

The quote argues for radical self-possession: the world will seize on any label, shame, or difference it can find, so the safest response is to acknowledge it openly and integrate it into one’s self-understanding. By “making it your strength,” the speaker suggests reframing stigma as a source of resilience, clarity, and even strategic advantage. The metaphor of “armor” implies that denial leaves one exposed, while acceptance creates a protective layer—insults lose their power when they merely repeat what you have already claimed. In the novel’s moral landscape, the line also critiques social cruelty: it is not difference itself that wounds, but the way communities exploit it.