Orson Scott Card Quotes
In a way she actually preferred Peter to other people because of this. He always acted out of intelligent self-interest.
I don't care how much you eat, Ender, self-cannibalism won't get you out of this school.
My father always said that government is like watching another man piss in your boot. Someone feels better but it certainly isn't you.
He loved her, as you can only love someone who is an echo of yourself at your time of deepest sorrow.
I'm not stupid!" In Bean's experience, that was a sentence never uttered except to prove its own inaccuracy.
Order and disorder', said the speaker, 'they each have their beauty.
I want to be the kind of boy you are, thought Bean. But I don’t want to go through what you’ve been through to get there.
And then he thought: Is this how idiots rationalize their stupidity to themselves?
I don't know why people who got what they need to be happy don't just go ahead and be happy.
Then you're dead, too, sweet little sister.' Oh, yes,' said Valentine. 'They'll believe that. "I didn't know it would kill Andrew. And when he was dead, I didn't know it will kill Valentine too.
Good people aren't good because they never cause harm to others. They're good because they treat others the best way they know how, with the understanding that they have.
To expect wickedness from human beings is the best way I know of to avoid surprises. And when I am surprised, it's always pleasantly.
The only process you've mastered is the process of elimination, and the only reason you've mastered that is because you can do it in the toilet.
If you asked me to marry you all over again today I'd say yes, said Valentine. And if I had only met you for the first time today, I'd ask.
There's always hope... even when there isn't faith. And sometimes, without hope or faith, there must be charity.
Others find humanity by looking in their own hearts. Only lost souls need to search for it outside themselves.
Quim," she said, "don't ever try to teach me about good and evil. I've been there, and you've seen nothing but a map.
The most evil creatures dont desire the destruction of everythingthey only desire to exploit it for themselves.
Human beings do metamorphose. They change their identity constantly. However, each new identity thrives on the delusion that it was always in possession of the body it has just conquered.
The nations that offer to arbitrate are the ones that think they should rule the world.
Before we are citizens, we are children, and it is as children that we come to understand freedom and authority, liberty and duty.
If he was a good man, how could he leave me? So he must not be a good man. But if he isn't good, then why does it hurt so much to lose him?
Ho said, 'I do not grieve because my feet have been cut off. I grieve because a precious jewel is dubbed a mere stone, and a man of integrity is called a deceiver. This is why I weep.'
Science fiction is about what could be but isn't; fantasy is about what couldn't be.
When have you ever seen someone who had no doubts who was also correct about anything?
I'm neutral on lying, seeing as how there's times when the truth just hurts people.
A rustic setting always suggests fantasy; to suggest science fiction, you need sheet metal and plastic. You need rivets.
I don't know a soul who doesn't maintain two separate lists of doctrines the ones that they believe that they believe; and the ones that they actually try to live by.
. . . All these readers have placed themselves inside this story, not as spectators, but as participants, and so have looked at the world, not with my eyes only, but also with their own.
Most victories came from instantly exploiting your enemy's stupid mistakes, and not from any particular brilliance in your own plan.
You accomplish exactly as much as the people who serve you decide you'll accomplish and nothing more.
In all my study of history, I have never found a time or place I would rather have lived than now.
