# Quote — Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

> It’s the dream of every living creature. The desire that is the very root of life itself: to grow until all the space you can see is part of you, under your control. It’s the desire for greatness. There are two ways, though, to fulfill it. One way is to kill anything that is not yourself, to swallow it up or destroy it, until nothing is left to oppose you. But that way is evil. You say to all the universe, Only I will be great, and to make room for me the rest of you must give up even what you already have, and become nothing.

- Author: [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md)
- Book: [Speaker for the Dead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/its-the-dream

## More from this book

> "There are worse reasons to die, than to die because you cannot bear to kill." "What about someone who can’t kill, and can’t die, and can’t live, either?" "Don’t deceive yourself. You’ll do all three someday."

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/there-are-worse.md)

> No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one's life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/no-human-being.md)

> You killed more people than anybody in history." said Olhado, "Be the best at whatever you do, that's what my mother always told me.” said Ender

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/you-killed-more.md)