Ender's Game
Critique • Quotes • At the movies
First editionFirst publication
1985, United States
Literature form
Novel
Part of series
Ender's War (including Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead) and the Ender series or Enderverse (1985–present)
Genre
Science fiction
Writing language
English
Author's country
United States
Length
Approx. 101,000 words
Notable lines
"I've watched through his eyes. I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one."
— First lines
"Any decent person who knows what warfare is can never go into battle with a whole heart."
"Ender didn't like fighting. He didn't like Peter's kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn't like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid."
"It isn't the world at stake, Ender. Just us. Just humankind. As far as the rest of the earth is concerned, we could be wiped out and it would adjust, it would get on with the next step in evolution."
The world is always a democracy in times of flux, and the man with the best voice will win. Everybody thinks Hitler got to power because of his armies, because they were willing to kill, and that's partly true, because in the real world power is always built on the threat of death and dishonor. But mostly he got to power on words, on the right words at the right time.
"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. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them... I destroy them."
And always Ender carried with him a dry white cocoon, looking for the world where the hive queen could awaken and thrive in peace. He looked a long time.
— Last lines
Critique • Quotes • At the movies
