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Famous Orson Scott Card Quotes

“There was no doubt now in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; 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 no one will ever save you.”

IfsMindMatterHelpingMightPainCausesForeverDoubtSubjectsNo DoubtPeterScumEnderEnders GameEnder Wiggin
Author:Orson Scott Card
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“What am I now, Alai?" "Still good." "At what?" "At--anything. There's a million soldiers who'd follow you to the end of the universe." "I don't want to go to the end of the universe." "So where do you want to go? They'll follow you." I want to go home, thought Ender, but I don't know where it is.”

KnowsWantStillsEndsHomeUniverseMillionsSoldierEnder
Book:Ender's Game Boxed Set: Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow
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“Writer’s block is my unconscious mind telling me that something I’ve just written is either unbelievable or unimportant to me, and I solve it by going back and reinventing some part of what I’ve already written so that when I write it again, it is believable and interesting to me. Then I can go on. Writer’s block is never solved by forcing oneself to “write through it,” because you haven’t solved the problem that caused your unconscious mind to rebel against the story, so it still won’t work – for you or for the reader.”

WritingMindStillsI CanStoriesProblemInterestingWrittenHavensGoes OnReaderOneselfSolveBlockUnconsciousRebelUnbelievableUnimportantBelievableWriter's BlockUnconscious MindReinventing
Author:Orson Scott Card
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“That is the earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of a hill, high in the trees, a grassy slope leading upwards from the water, fish leaping and birds strafing to take the bugs that lived at the border between water and sky. Earth was the constant noise of crickets, and winds, and birds”

EarthHouseWaterTreeSkyWindBirdConstantShiningFishesForestsNoiseHillsBordersLakesGlobesCricketBugsSlopes
Book:Ender's Game: Ender Series
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“Humans invent an imaginary lover and put that mask over the face of the body in their bed. That is the tragedy of language my friend. Those who know each other only through symbolic representations are forced to imagine each other. And because their imagination is imperfect, they are often wrong.”

KnowsHumansBodyFacesLanguageImaginationImagineLoversBedMy FriendsTragedyMaskImperfectImaginaryRepresentationSymbolic
Book:Xenocide: Volume Three of the Ender Quintet
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“The criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching them―noticing them―that was essential. If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you were merely replacing ignorance with false belief, which was no improvement. The part of the man's statement that was true, however, was about the uselessness of speaking up. If I know that the teacher is wrong, and say nothing, then I remain the only one who knows, and that gives me an advantage over those who believe the teacher.”

IfsKnowsMenGivingMindBelieveBeliefMistakeTeacherInformationIgnoranceEssentialsAdvantageGive MeCriminalsImprovementStatementsPointingCatchingNoticingMisuseUselessnessSpeaking Up
Book:Ender's Shadow
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“Do the gods of different nations talk to each other?...Is there some annual get-together where they compare each other's worshippers? Mine will bow their faces to the floor and trace woodgrain lines for me, says one. Mine will sacrifice animals, says another. Mine will kill anyone who insults me, says a third. Here is the question I think of most often: "Are there any who can honestly boast, My worshippers obey my good laws, and treat each other kindly, and live simple generous lives?”

ThinkingDifferentTogetherFacesLawNationsLinesSimpleAnimalSacrificeMinesTreatsThirdsHonestlyCompareGenerousInsultBowsBoastGet TogetherAnnualsWorshippers
Author:Orson Scott Card
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