“Maybe war is an inevitable product of human nature. Maybe to get rid of war, we have to become something other than human.”

“Perhaps wars weren't won anymore. Maybe they went on forever. Maybe it was another Hundred Years' War.”

“It's obvious that the number one thing we have to do is to get rid of war.”

“So how to we get at stopping war? We have to create trust. We have to get rid of injustice.”

“Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me—to find out what you're good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tools.”

“Atomic war is inevitable. It will destroy half of humanity: it is going to destroy immense human riches. It is very possible. The atomic war is going to provoke a true inferno on Earth. But it will not impede Communism.”

“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”

“But maybe it's better to go after something, and not get it, than to not even try.”

“Maybe nobody has a right to tell anybody to shut up. Maybe this is how wars get started, because someone tells someone else to shut up, and then no one will apologize.”

“Maybe in fact it was better to have Saddam in there. Maybe Saddam, as bad as he was-was not the worst we could get. Maybe chaos was the worst we could get. That's the truth.”