Ender Wiggin must believe that no matter what happens, no adult will ever, ever step in to help him in any way.

I've had your tears with mine, and you've had mine with yours. I think that's more intimate even than a kiss.

I want to be the kind of boy you are, thought Bean. But I don’t want to go through what you’ve been through to get there.

Writing sessions can last an hour or sixteen hours, depending on how it's going.

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?

Ender nodded. It was a lie, of course, that it wouldn’t hurt a bit. But since adults always said it when it was going to hurt, he could count on that statement as an accurate prediction of the future. Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.

In a way she actually preferred Peter to other people because of this. He always acted out of intelligent self-interest.