“What kind of rescue is this, where you toss the prisoner a knife and stand and wait to see what happens?”

“Isn’t that what it means to be civilized? That you can wait to get what you want?”

“Everybody dies. What matters is what you do between now and when it happens to you.”

“The other four houses yielded jewelry, wallets, credit cards, laptops, iPads and Kindles, even a couple of expensive looking vases...."You didn't do anything stupid like writing IOUs and signing your name, did you?""That's an excellent idea," said Danny. He stepped back through the gate, waited for a count of five, and then returned to Eric. Now Eric was standing, and when he saw Danny he visibly sagged with relief. "What kind of moron are you?""The fun-loving kind," said Danny. "I'm not an idiot, of course I didn't sign my name to IOUs.""Good.""I signed yours.”

“You don't know who a person is until you see how he acts when given unexpected power. He hasn't rehearsed for the part. So what you see is what he is.”

“What I want," he said softly, "is to stand in this meadow and walk in the light of the sun.”

“What am I now, Alai?""Still good.""At what?""At--anything. There's a million soldiers who'd follow you to the end of the universe.""I don't want to go to the end of the universe.""So where do you want to go? They'll follow you."I want to go home, thought Ender, but I don't know where it is.”