Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)

by Orson Scott Card

Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.

As he thought of it, though, he could not imagine what “just living” might actually be. He had never done it in his life.

but the most important message was this: the adults are the enemy, not the other armies. They do not tell us the truth.

So it was from the buggers, not the humans, that Ender learned strategy. He felt ashamed and afraid of learning from them, since they were the most terrible enemy, ugly and murderous and loathsome. But they were also very good at what they did.

Perhaps it’s impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.

“Colonel Graff,” he said. “I just want to go back and swim in the lake.”

Nature can’t evolve a species that hasn’t a will to survive. Individuals might be bred to sacrifice themselves, but the race as a whole can never decide to cease to exist.

For the first time, Ender had found a living mind he could admire.

“I know this place, Abra. The buggers built it for me.”