A man who can't read only knows what other folks tell him. Orson Scott Card More Quotes by Orson Scott Card More Quotes From Orson Scott Card A regime that wraps itself in the flag of truth fears truth most of all, for if its story is falsified to the slightest degree, its authority is gone. Orson Scott Card flagsdegreesgone Changing the world is good for those who want their names in books. But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives of others, and hold the hearts of others as the treasure most dear. Orson Scott Card heartwritingbook It is a common trait of primates to become submissive and even worshipful toward one who has the power to kill them. Orson Scott Card submissiveprimatescommon Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth. Orson Scott Card enders-gamesometimeslying Remember, the enemy's gate is down. Orson Scott Card enders-gamerememberenemy I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth: the mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about someone who lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself. --From the Introduction Orson Scott Card realselfthinking How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. Orson Scott Card governmentlawchildren 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. Orson Scott Card fashionsheepbelieve Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to. Orson Scott Card definedcommunitypersons Life is full of grief, to exactly the degree we allow ourselves to love other people. Orson Scott Card degreesgriefpeople All the stories are fictions. What matters is which fiction you believe. Orson Scott Card what-mattersbelievefiction Once you get a brother, you don’t give him up easy. Orson Scott Card brothereasygiving Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken. Orson Scott Card language-wordsparentingsilence When you have a good romance, find ways to make their lives miserable and hellish...Do you think 'Titanic' would have been so popular if they had both lived? Not a prayer. Orson Scott Card romanceprayerthinking When there aren't any smart decisions, I suppose you just have to pick the stupid decision you like best. Orson Scott Card smartdecisionstupid 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. Orson Scott Card enders-gamedefeatenemy Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any. Orson Scott Card writingpastideas Music isn't just a pleasure, a transient satisfaction. It's a need, a deep hunger; and when the music is right, it's joy. Love. A foretaste of heaven. A comfort in grief. Is it too much to think that perhaps God speaks to us sometimes through music? How, then, could I be so ungrateful as to refuse the message? Orson Scott Card ungratefulgriefthinking Short stories are designed to deliver their impact in as few pages as possible. A tremendous amount is left out, and a good short story writer learns to include only the most essential information. Orson Scott Card story-writersimpactwriting In philosophy class I think we finally decided that 'good' is an infinitely recursive term - it can't be defined except in terms of itself. Good is good because it's better than bad, though why it's better to be good than bad depends on how you define good, and on and on. Orson Scott Card classphilosophythinking
