All quotes

A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then, that is is the year 10191. The known universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam the Fourth, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange…

He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing.

The sleeper has awakened!

He who controls the Spice, controls the universe!

My name is a killing word.

Not in the mood? Mood's a thing for cattle and loveplay, not fighting!

I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

Long live the fighters!

Paul: They tried and failed? Reverend Mother Mohiam: They tried and died.

Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.

Lem smiled. "I see now why you've lasted so long with my father, Dr. Benyawe. You're not afraid to speak your mind. My father respects that." "No, Lem. I have lasted so long with your father because I am always right."

She slapped her desk with the palm of her hand. Now this was auditing. If only her father could see her now. "Auditing?" He said the word like it left a sour taste in his mouth. "That's worse that accounting, Imala. You're not even…

"Of course it's our decision [whether or not we send a warning message to Earth]," said Toron. "Who else could make it?" "Everyone," said Victor. "This affects everyone. This changes everything. This is an alien starship. We have no right…

"We can't call them hormigas. That's Spanish for 'ant.' The scientific community would never approve of a living language classification. It needs to be the Latin. Formic. At least that's my professional recommendation." Lem blinked. "Who…

But this isn't how it feels to be a bugger, thought Ender. They don't ware this face like a mask, it is their face. On their home worlds, do the buggers put on human masks, and play?

The enemy's door is down.

We train our commanders the way we do because that's what it takes — they have to think in certain ways, they can't be distracted by a lot of things, so we isolate them. You. Keep you separate. And it works. But it's so easy, when you…

Fairness is a wonderful attribute, Major Anderson. It has nothing to do with war.

He toyed with the idea of trying to be like the other boys. But he couldn't think of any jokes, and none of theirs seemed funny. Wherever their laughter came from, Ender couldn't find such a place in himself. He was afraid and fear made…

Human beings are free except when humanity needs them.

He isn't a killer. He just wins — thoroughly.

He was a soldier, and if anyone had asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he wouldn't have known what they meant.

Everyone thinks Hitler got to power because of his armies, because they were willing to kill, and that's partly true, because in the real world power is always build on the threat of death and dishonor. But mostly he got to power on words…

He could see Bonzo's anger growing hot. Hot anger was bad. Ender's anger was cold, and he could use it. Bonzo's was hot, and so it used him.

As a species, we have evolved to survive. And the way we do that is by straining and straining and, at last, every few generations, giving birth to genius.

Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf. Survival first, then happiness as we can manage it.

I'm doing it again, thought Ender. I'm hurting people again, just to save myself. Why don't they leave me alone, so I don't have to hurt them?

It was just him and me. He fought with honor. If it weren't for his honor, he and the others would have beaten me together. They might have killed me, then. His sense of honor saved my life. I didn't fight with honor... I fought to win.

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.