the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and one will ever save you.

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.

Do you have a formal gown to wear?'I made a face.'Of course not.''What size are you?''Size awesome.'He gave me a blank stare.He didn't get it

I don’t regret for a single moment having lived for pleasure. I did it to the full, as one should do everything that one does. There was no pleasure I did not experience.

I never have reservations about doing anything as long as I'm being paid.

Holding her hand in public is just another way of saying you're proud to have her.

France built its best colony on a principle of exclusion, and failed; England reversed the system, and succeeded.

I feel successful when the writing goes well. This lasts five minutes. Once, when I was number one on the bestseller list, I also felt successful. That lasted three minutes.

I realized that the one person who could break my heart is the only one who should have it.

As long as there shall be stones, the seeds of fire will not die.

Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let her go.

Now I am obsessed with collecting Platypus paraphernalia.