Reasonable argument is impossible when authority becomes the arbiter.

Where loyalty bound creatures together, they became something larger, something new and whole and inexplicable.

But when it comes to human beings, the only type of cause that matters is final cause, the purpose. What a person had in mind. Once you understand what people really want, you can't hate them anymore. You can fear them, but you can't hate them, because you can always find the same desires in your own heart.

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

If he was a good man, how could he leave me? So he must not be a good man. But if he isn't good, then why does it hurt so much to lose him?

"We've devoted our lives to learning about them!" Miro said. Ender stopped. "Not from them."

Parents always make their worst mistakes with their oldest children. That's when parents know the least and care the most, so they're more likely to be wrong and also more likely to insist that they're right.