It made Ender listen more carefully to what people meant, instead of what they said. It made him wise.

I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven't seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they're absolutely stupid.

Ender didn't like fighting. He didn't like Peter's kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn't like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid.

I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.

There are times when the world is rearranging itself, and at times like that, the right words can change the world.

Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along―the same person that I am today.

If you try and lose then it isn't your fault. But if you don't try and we lose, then it's all your fault.

I taught you everything you know. But I didn't teach you everything I know.

Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.

Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.

Peter, you're twelve years old. I'm ten. They have a word for people our age. They call us children and they treat us like mice.

So, I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.

Why had he assumed time was some sort of infinite resource? Now the hourglass had busted open, and what he’d always assumed was just a bunch of sand turned out to be a million tiny diamonds.

With a recent birthday, I've been acting now for twenty years.

My god is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured being.

To think twice in every matter and follow the lead of others is no way to make money.

Respect me, or put me to death.

Whether you've found your calling, or if you're still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life's work.

I may be irresponsible but I am a good irresponsible.

Anytime I think about a product, I think about my family and friends. Would they be proud of me if I put this out?

The speeding reader guts a book the way the skillful clean fish. The gills are gone, the tail, the scales, the fins; then the fillet slides away swifly as though fed to a seal.