I will love you forever, he thought. I am lying, he thought, and this time he was right

Human beings may be miserable specimens, in the main, but we can learn, and, through learning, become decent people.

Nonsense," said Graff. "Ender always has plans within plans.

This is what historians usually do, quibble about cause and effect when the point is, there are times when the world is in flux and the right voice in the right place can move the world. Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin, for instance. Bismark. Lenin.

For children love is a feeling; for adults, it is a decision. Children wait to learn if their love is true by seeing how long it lasts; adults make their love true by never wavering from their commitment.

Most victories came from instantly exploiting your enemy's stupid mistakes, and not from any particular brilliance in your own plan.

That's the problem with winning right from the start, thought Ender. you lose friends.