Orson Scott Card: Trending quotes (page 20)

“He’s young,” she said.
“We’ve all been guilty of that sin,” said Alvin. “And some never get over it.”

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, The Crystal City (2003), Chapter 9 “Expeditions” (p. 175).

“I took the leap, yes, but I didn't like the ledge where I landed — I fought the bear, I kissed the princess, but now I don't want to be king. Well, where in the fairy tales did it ever say Cinderella had to like being queen?”

Orson Scott Card Enchantment

Enchantment (1999)

Kiss , Princess

“If something just plain didn’t make sense to Alvin, he didn’t believe it, and no amount of quoting from the Bible would convince him. Now Taleswapper was telling him that he was right to refuse to believe things that made no sense.”

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Seventh Son (1987), Chapter 10.

Quotes , Sense

“You are so intent that you believe only what you believe that you believe, that you remain utterly blind to what you really believe without believing that you believe it.”

Orson Scott Card Ender's Game hexalogy

Ender's Game series, Shadow of the Hegemon (2001)

“Such a darling child, they would say, and pat her head. And Miriam would answer in her heart: you made my father a slave. You want us all dead. You are the river, you and all of Egypt. You are the river and as long as we stay beside you we are in danger of drowning.”

Orson Scott Card book Stone Tables

Stone Tables (1997)

Heart , Dead

“I don't know why people who got what they need to be happy don’t just go ahead and be happy.”

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Alvin Journeyman (1995), Chapter 1.

People , Happiness

“You resent death. You regret death. But as for your own life, you know perfectly well that no one can threaten it at all. Death is something that happens to someone else.”

Orson Scott Card

Treason (1988)

Life , Death

“Doesn't love show its face when it satisfies the need of the loved one, for the loved one's sake alone?”

Orson Scott Card

Homecoming saga, The Ships Of Earth (1994)

Love

“Don’t press her,” said Cooper. “If someone decides to leave something unsaid, my experience is that everyone is happier if they don’t insist on his saying it.”

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Heartfire (1998), Chapter 5.

“You know, if you hurt people enough, eventually they’ll all call you whatever you want. Maker. King. Captain. Boss. Master. Holy One. Pick your title, you can beat people into calling you that. But you don’t change yourself a bit. All you do is change the meanings of those words, so they all mean the same thing: Bully.”

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Alvin Journeyman (1995), Chapter 2.

People , Change , Hurt

“I had never believed I had a soul until then, when it laid bare a hurt more deep than any part of me could bear.”

Orson Scott Card

Treason (1988)

Soul , Parting , Hurt

“You're the sort of enemy your enemy must love.”

Orson Scott Card Hart's Hope

Hart's Hope (1983)

Love

““I want to know how many years I got.”
“Many,” said Ta-Kumsaw. “Or few. All that matters is what you do with however many years you have.””

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Red Prophet (1988), Chapter 17.

“How does he do it? How does he master people without bluster or bullying? How does he make people fear him or love him, not in spite of his ruthlessness but because of it?”

Orson Scott Card

Homecoming saga, The Call Of Earth (1992)

Love , People , Fear

“There are many steps on the continuum between controlling something and doing nothing at all.”

Orson Scott Card Ender's Game hexalogy

Page 57
Ender's Game series, First Meetings in the Enderverse (2003), The Polish Boy

“The man who has an intelligent child is doomed to spend his life justifying every decision he makes.”

Orson Scott Card book Stone Tables

Stone Tables (1997)

Life , Intelligence , Decision

“Debased men, but they all had something in common: They showed a keen regard for virtue, and tried to dress themselves in that costume. Hypocrisy, for all its bad reputation, at least showed a decent respect for goodness.”

Orson Scott Card

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Alvin Journeyman (1995), Chapter 14.

Men

“I've seen Australia and I've lived on an asteroid and I'd take the asteroid.”

Orson Scott Card Ender's Game hexalogy

Champi T'it'u aka Dumper
Ender's Game series, Shadow of the Giant (2005)

“How strange it was that this other woman, this girl-child, should speak of her son so possessively, should speak of his future as if it were her own future.”

Orson Scott Card Enchantment

Enchantment (1999)

Girl , Future

“First we try to preserve ourselves, until we see that we can't. Then we try to preserve our children, until we see we can't. Then we act to preserve our kin, and then our village or tribe, and when we see we can't preserve even them, then we act in order to preserve our memory. And if we can't do that, what is left?”

Orson Scott Card book Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996)

Children , Memory