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 More Quotes by Orson Scott Card More Quotes From Orson Scott Card It is easy to say that you can adopt the whole human race as your children, but it is not the same as living in a home with a child and shaping all you do to help him learn to be happy and whole and good. Don't live your life without ever holding a child in your arms, on your lap, in your home, and feeling a child's arms around you and hearing his voice in your ear and seeing his smile, given to you because you put it into your heart. Orson Scott Card home heart children Come into our home, daughters of Earth; dwell in our tunnels, harvest our fields; what we cannot do, you are now our hands to do for us. Blossom, trees; ripen, fields; be warm for them, suns; be fertile for them, planets: they are our adopted daughters, and they have come home. Orson Scott Card daughter tunnels home With life. Rooter says that life is how God gives purpose to the universe. Orson Scott Card purpose life-is giving Order and disorder', said the speaker, 'they each have their beauty. Orson Scott Card speakers said order The difference between raman and varelse is not in the creature judged, but in the creature judging. When we declare an alien species to be raman, it does not mean that they have passed a threshold of moral maturity. It means that we have. Orson Scott Card maturity differences mean If human beings are all monsters, why should I sacrifice anything for them?" "Because they are beautiful monsters..., And when they live in a network of peace and hope, when they trust the world and their deepest hungers are fulfilled, then within that system, that delicate web, there is joy. That is what we live for, to bind the monsters together, to murder their fear and give birth to their beauty. Orson Scott Card sacrifice beautiful giving I know everything I need to know already," Rigg always said... To which Father always replied,"See how ignorant you are? You don't even know why you need to know the things you don't know yet." "So tell me," said Rigg. "I would but you're too ignorant to understand the reasons why your ignorance is a fatal disease. Orson Scott Card ignorant ignorance father The tribe is whatever we believe it is. If we say the tribe is all the Little Ones in the forest, and all the trees, then that is what the tribe is. Even though some of the oldest trees here came from warriors of two different tribes, fallen in battle. We become one tribe because we say we're one tribe." Ender marveled at his mind, this small raman [member of another sentient species]. How few humans were able to grasp this idea, or let it extend beyond the narrow confines of their tribe, their family, their nation. Orson Scott Card warrior believe ideas Peace. That's what salaam means. Peace unto you." The words brought forth an echo from Ender's memory. His mother's voice reading to him softly, when he was very young. ... The kiss, the word, the peace were with him still. I am only what I remember, and Alai is my friend in a memory so intense that they can't tear him out. Like Valentine, the strongest memory of all. Orson Scott Card reading mother memories A broken clock is right two times a day. Orson Scott Card clock broken two As history shows us, when colonization is voluntary, people will self-select better than any testing system. It’s like those foolish attempts to control immigration to American based on the traits that were deemed desirable, when in fact the only trait that defines Americans historically is “descended from somebody willing to give up everything to live there.” Willingness is the single most important test. Orson Scott Card giving-up self people It is in the turmoil of chaos that we discover what, if anything, we are. Orson Scott Card turmoil chaos what-if Valentine had long ago observed that in a society that expected chastity and fidelity, like Lusitania, the adolescents who controlled and channeled their youthful passions were the ones who grew up to be both strong and civilized. Adolescents in such a community who were either too weak to control themselves or too contemptuous of society's norms to try usually ended up being either sheep or wolves- either mindless members of the herd or predators who took what they could and gave nothing. Orson Scott Card valentine passion strong The only process you've mastered is the process of elimination, and the only reason you've mastered that is because you can do it in the toilet. Orson Scott Card elimination toilets reason Parents always make their worst mistakes with their oldest children. That's when parents know the least and care the most, so they're more likely to be wrong and also more likely to insist that they're right. Orson Scott Card mistake funny children If you asked me to marry you all over again today I'd say yes, said Valentine. And if I had only met you for the first time today, I'd ask. Orson Scott Card valentine today firsts Isn’t that what it means to be civilized? That you can wait to get what you want? Orson Scott Card waiting want mean And what? What's the other choice? To passively let things happen and then say: "Tut-tut, what at botch that was"? Don't we all manipulate people? Even if we openly ask them to make a choice, don't we try to frame it so they'll chose as we think they should? Orson Scott Card choices people thinking Oh, Val," said Father. "All you have to do is live your life, and everyone around you will be happier." "No greatness, then." "Val," said Mother, "goodness trumps greatness any day." "Not in the history books," said Valentine. "Then the wrong people are writing history, aren't they?" said Father. Orson Scott Card valentine mother father I think you don't grow up until you stop worrying about other people's purposes or lack of them and find the purposes you believe in for yourself. Orson Scott Card growing-up believe thinking
