Quotes from Orson Scott Card

You shouldn't be proud of being good at something, if you were born with it. That would be as dumb as being proud of having two legs, or speaking a language, or pooping.

Para conservar la alegría de la infancia tendrías que morir siendo niño, o vivir como tal, sin convertirte nunca en hombre, sin crecde jamás.

Sometimes the government is the last to know.

you never knew why other people said what they said or did what they did, because they never even knew themselves. Nobody understands anybody.

I didn't fight with honor,' Ender added. 'I fought to win.

Metaphorical flavor doesn't influence reality," said the expendable.

If you can own property, how are you a slave?" asked Rigg. "Because your owner can move you to one place or another, can break up your marriage, can sell your children to some other owner, can decide how much education you'll receive, and what work you'll do, and what hours you'll keep.

Insouciant heroes aren't Brave or relaxed. They're just trying not to embarrass themselves in the moments before they die.

The only gift I have," said Hull, "is the gift of remembering all kindnesses, and trusting those worthy of trust.

It also makes you fart," said John Paul. "Constantly." "Frequently would be the more accurate term," said Peter. "And it's sweet of you to care." "We're just looking out for your image," said Theresa. "I only fart when I'm alone." "Since he does it in front of us," said John Paul to Theresa, "what exactly does that make us?

Peter had even named it once, when he said that he could always see what other people hated most about themselves, and bully them, while Val could always see what other people liked best about themselves and flatter them. Valentine could persuade other people to her point of view - she could convince them that they wanted what she wanted them to want. Peter, on the other hand, could only make them fear what he wanted them to fear.

Cuando tienes la sabiduría que otra persona sabe que necesita, ofrécela libremente. Pero cuando la otra persona no sepa todavía que necesita tu sabiduría, guárdatela para ti. La comida sólo parece atractiva a un hombre hambriento.

Our great civilizations are nothing more than social machines to create the ideal female setting, where a woman can count on stability; our legal and moral codes that try to abolish violence and promote permanence of ownership and enforce contracts—those represent the primary female strategy, the taming of the male.

Yet if he lost that desire, who would he be ? What would be in his heart then, if she were gone from it ?

I believe you mean it now, but in the moment, when you're deciding what to tell me and what not to tell, I think you'll hold back the things I most want to know, if you're afraid that knowing will cause me harm.

gift so sacred that even Ender could not be allowed to understand what it meant.

Perversos y retorcidos son los caminos de la mente humana- recitó Jane-. Pinocho fue un idiota intentando convertirse en un niño de verdad. Estaba mucho mejor con su cabeza de madera.

The Hegemon was a companion piece, really, to The Hive Queen. The one book was the story of an entire species; and so was the other.

But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives of others, and hold the hearts of others as the treasure most dear. Valentine

The snake began to unweave itself from the rug again, only this time Ender did not hesitate. He stepped on the head of the snake and crushed it under his foot. It writhed and twisted under him, and in response he twisted and ground it deeper into the stone floor. Finally it was still. Ender picked it up and shook it, until it unwove itself and the pattern in the rug was gone. Then, still dragging the snake behind him, he began to look for a way out.

Yes, I'm paranoid and xenophobic. That's how I got this job. Cultivate those virtues and you too, might rise to my lofty station.

You get all the pleasures of the puppeteer. Until you get a soldier who can do more than anyone else. You can't have that. It spoils the symmetry. You must get him in line, break him down, isolate him, beat him until he gets in line with everyone else.

Twisted and perverse are the ways of the human mind,' Jane intoned. 'Pinocchio was such a dolt to try to become a real boy. He was much better off with a wooden head.

It was wrong of me to value my own pain so highly that I thought it gave me the right to inflict more on him.