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Orson Scott Card Quotes

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Famous Orson Scott Card Quotes

“Perhaps you don't desire poetry as much as you would like to have my torchy knowledge of your possible futures, but I dare say poetry will do you far more good. For knowing the future only makes you timid and complacent by turns, while poetry can shape you into the kind of souls who can face any future with boldness and wisdom and nobility, so that you need not know the future at all, so that any future will be an opportunity for greatness, if you have greatness in you.”

IfsKnowsNeedsKindSoulFacesDesireTurnsOpportunityKnowingGreatnessShapesDareNobilityBoldnessComplacentKnowing The Future
Book:Prentice Alvin: The Tales of Alvin Maker
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“And if you're going to criticize me for not finishing the whole thing and tying it up in a bow for you, why, do us both a favor and write your own damn book, only have the decency to call it a romance instead of a history, because history's got no bows on it, only frayed ends of ribbons and knots that can't be untied. It ain't a pretty package, but then it's not your birthday that I know of so I'm under no obligation to give you a gift.”

IfsKnowsGivingWritingBookEndsWholeRomanceFavorsObligationDamnCriticizeBowsDecencyPackagesFinishingKnotsRibbonsWrite Your Own
Book:Alvin Journeyman: The Tales of Alvin Maker
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“If you give orders and explain nothing, you might get obedience, but you'll get no creativity. If you tell them your purpose, then when your original plan is shown to be faulty, they'll find another way to achieve your goal. Explaining to your men doesn't weaken their respect for you, it proves your respect for them.”

IfsMenWayGivingMightPurposeOrderGoalCreativityPlansAchieveProveOriginalsObedienceAnother WayExplainingAchieving Your Goals
Book:Shadow of the Giant
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“But if you caught my informant,' said Achilles, 'why in the world would Chamrajnagar—or Graff, if it was him—launch the shuttle anyway? Was catching me doing something naughty so important they’d risk a shuttle and it’s crew just to catch me? I find that quite… flattering. Sort of like winning the Nobel Prize for scariest villain.”

IfsWorldSaidImportantWinningRiskCaughtPrizeVillainCrewCatchingNobelNaughtyFlatteringNobel PrizeAchillesCatch MeInformants
Book:Shadow Puppets
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“it was all your genes that made us geniuses, mom. said peter. we sure didn't get any from dad. i heard that. father said, not looking up from the news that was being displayed on the table while he ate it would've been wasted if you hadn't”

IfsMadeSaidFatherHeardMomGeniusDadNewsTablesGenesPeter
Book:Ender's Game Boxed Set II: Ender's Game, Ender in Exile, Speak for the Dead
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“If I wanted to doubt, then I could doubt endlessly, but at some point a person has to stop questioning and act, and at that point you have to trust something to be true. You have to act as if something is true, and so you choose the thing you have the most reason to believe in, you have to live in the world that you have the most hope in.”

IfsWorldWantBelievePersonsReasonWantedI BelieveDoubtBeing TrueBelieve In GodYou ChooseQuestioningBelieve In YouTrue You
Author:Orson Scott Card
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“If human beings are all monsters, why should I sacrifice anything for them?" "Because they are beautiful monsters..., And when they live in a network of peace and hope, when they trust the world and their deepest hungers are fulfilled, then within that system, that delicate web, there is joy. That is what we live for, to bind the monsters together, to murder their fear and give birth to their beauty.”

IfsWorldGivingShouldHumansTogetherBeautifulJoyHuman BeingsSacrificeBirthMurderHungerMonstersDelicateShould IFulfilled
Book:Wyrms
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“The tribe is whatever we believe it is. If we say the tribe is all the Little Ones in the forest, and all the trees, then that is what the tribe is. Even though some of the oldest trees here came from warriors of two different tribes, fallen in battle. We become one tribe because we say we're one tribe." Ender marveled at his mind, this small raman [member of another sentient species]. How few humans were able to grasp this idea, or let it extend beyond the narrow confines of their tribe, their family, their nation.”

IfsMindBelieveHumansLittlesTwoIdeasDifferentAbleNationsTreeBattleMembersSpeciesForestsWarriorFallenTribesEnder
Book:The Ender Quintet
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“Do you know why Satan is so angry all the time? Because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief God uses it to serve his own Rigteous purposes." "So God uses wicked people as his tools?" "God gives us the freedom to to do great evil, if we choose, then He uses his own freedom to create goodness out of that evil, for that is what He chooses." "So, in the long run, God always wins?" "Yes, in the short run though it can be uncomfortable.”

PeopleIfsKnowsGivingLongUseRunningPurposeEvilWinningBitsGoodnessToolsAngryCleverUncomfortableSatanWickedDo You KnowLong RunsMischief
Book:Ender's Game Boxed Set I: Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon
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“So from then on, he looked at all his choices and said, What would a good person do, and then did it. But he has now learned something very important about human nature. If you spend your whole life pretending to be good, then you are indistinguishable from a good person. Relentless hypocrisy eventually becomes the truth.”

IfsHumansPersonsSaidImportantWholeChoicesHuman NatureBe GoodWhole LifeHypocrisyPretendingGood PeopleGood PersonRelentless
Author:Orson Scott Card
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“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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