I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.

Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along―the same person that I am today.

An enemy, Ender Wiggin," whispered the old man. "I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had who was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on I am your teacher.

Apparently the Dutch now prided themselves on being better at queues than the English, which was absurd, because standing cheerfully in line was the English national sport.

His vices were the vices of his time and culture, but his virtues transcended the milieu of his life.

Twisted and perverse are the ways of the human mind," Jane intoned. "Pinocchio was such a dolt to try to become a real boy. He was much better off with a wooden head.

Life is full of grief, to exactly the degree we allow ourselves to love other people.