We care about moral issues, nobility, decency, happiness, goodnessโthe issues that matter in the real world, but which can only be addressed, in their purity, in fiction.
Orson Scott CardMake friends. Be a leader. Kiss butts if you have to, but if the other guys despise you-you know what I mean?
Orson Scott CardThe criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching themโnoticing themโthat 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.
Orson Scott CardIf anyone have intercourse with a pig or a dog, he shall die. If a man have intercourse with a horse or a mule, there is no punishment. But he shall not approach the king, and shall not become a priest... If a pig spring upon a man for intercourse, there is no punishment.
Orson Scott CardHumans 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.
Orson Scott Card