In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.

I wonder sometimes if the motivation for writers ought to be contempt, not admiration.

Intellectual understanding does not always bring visceral belief.

He loved her, as you can only love someone who is an echo of yourself at your time of deepest sorrow.

Science fiction is about what could be but isn't; fantasy is about what couldn't be.

America's intellectual community has never been very bright. Or honest. They're all sheep, following whatever the intellectual fashion of the decade happens to be. Demanding that everyone follow their dicta in lockstep. Everyone has to be open-minded and tolerant of the things they believe, but God forbid they should ever concede, even for a moment, that someone who disagrees with them might have some fingerhold of truth.

Ender understood more than she said. Manipulation of gravity was one thing; deception by the officers was another; but the most important message was this: the adults are the enemy, not the other armies. They do not tell us the truth.