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Mind Quotes by Orson Scott Card

26 Mind quotes by Orson Scott Card

All Mind quotes Orson Scott Card’s page

Card’s narratives often hinge on mental agility, and this collection of twenty‑six quotes captures that focus. You’ll encounter strategic advice, creative encouragement, and the occasional sci‑fi twist that together illustrate his distinctive way of looking at thought.

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It is possible to have words come to your mind, and still refrain from speaking them aloud.

Orson Scott Card

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In order to learn, one must change one's mind.

Orson Scott Card

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The only true vision comes not from God but from the inmost recesses of the human mind.

Orson Scott Card

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

Orson Scott Card

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The only way to learn is by changing your mind.

Orson Scott Card

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One mind can think only of its own questions; it rarely surprises itself.

Orson Scott Card

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

Orson Scott Card

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“No one with him to tell him he must eat, he must go practice, he must sleep. Freedom. The trouble was, he…

Orson Scott Card

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“...he would have been lost except he started out lost and when you start out completely lost, it's hard to get loster.”

Orson Scott Card

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“He felt like part of himself had been taken away, an inward prop that was holding up his courage and confidence.”

Orson Scott Card

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Twisted and perverse are the ways of the human mind," Jane intoned. "Pinocchio was such a dolt to try to become a…

Orson Scott Card

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But when it comes to human beings, the only type of cause that matters is final cause, the purpose. What a person…

Orson Scott Card

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If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you…

Orson Scott Card

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Whether he likes it or not, [he] cannot remain incognito forever. He has outraged too many wise men and pleased too many…

Orson Scott Card

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The story itself, the true story, is the one that the audience members create in their minds, guided and shaped by my…

Orson Scott Card

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Never mind that the story had turned out to be lies and foolishness—there was always folks stupid enough to say, Where there's…

Orson Scott Card

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“I cut the wood however I like, but it's the grain that decides the strength and shape of it. You can add…

Orson Scott Card

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It's the problem with age. You have all these rusty arguments, and no quarrel to use them in. My brain is a…

Orson Scott Card

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People above you, they never want to share power with you. Why you look to them? They give you nothing. People below…

Orson Scott Card

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Are you all right, Sir?" asked Hezekiah. "Just fighting over old battles in my mind," said John. "It's the problem with age.…

Orson Scott Card

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The criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching them―noticing them―that was essential. If you did not in your own…

Orson Scott Card

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At first he thought he felt bad because he was afraid of leading an army, but it wasn't true. He knew he'd…

Orson Scott Card

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There was no doubt now in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no on…

Orson Scott Card

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“Not just the listeners, either. Miro had to be fair—he was as impatient with himself as they were. When he thought of…

Orson Scott Card

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Writer’s block is my unconscious mind telling me that something I’ve just written is either unbelievable or unimportant to me, and I…

Orson Scott Card

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The tribe is whatever we believe it is. If we say the tribe is all the Little Ones in the forest, and…

Orson Scott Card

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“You underestimate yourself.”

Orson Scott Card

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We're like the wicked witch. We promise gingerbread, then eat the little brats alive.

Orson Scott Card

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I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…

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“Why did he hesitate? He finally admitted to himself that he was like an American child who was almost completely certain about Santa Claus,…

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“I don't know of a soul who doesn't maintain two separate lists of doctrines - the ones they believe they believe; and the ones…

Orson Scott Card

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Good people do not let others suffer needlessly.

Orson Scott Card

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“The devil?” Jason heaved the tick over his shoulder like a collier with his sack. “Satan. The adversary. The enemy of the plan of…

Orson Scott Card

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“What we've done is make the categories of science fiction and fantasy larger, freer, and more inclusive than any other genre of contemporary literature.…

Orson Scott Card

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Where ideas are real and reality is shadow.

Orson Scott Card

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“Ender, for the past few months you have been the battle commander of our fleets. This was the Third Invasion. There were no games,…

Orson Scott Card

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Science fiction is about what could be but isn't; fantasy is about what couldn't be.

Orson Scott Card

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Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon.

Orson Scott Card

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“Of course they accused Marcão of having done it without provocation—that’s the way of torturers of every age, to put the blame on the…

Orson Scott Card

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“Civilization is only a pretense; in the crisis, we become mere apes again, forgetting the rational biped of our pretensions and becoming instead the…

Orson Scott Card

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“Where did this whole thing begin? If what we think of as reality is just a pattern that somebody brought Outside, and the universe…

Orson Scott Card

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