Bean – the Shadow of the Hegemon (2)

This post is the sequel of my previous article. Please find below the fragments I liked best in the Shadow of the Hegemon – the sixth book of Ender’s Game series, the second in the Bean quartet.

I’m talking about the cycle of life. I’m talking about finding some alien creature and deciding to marry her and stay with her forever, no matter whether you even like each other or not a few years down the road. And why will you do this? So you can make babies together, and try to keep them alive and teach them what they need to know so that someday they’ll have babies, and keep the whole thing going.

And you’ll never draw a secure breath until you have grandchildren, a double handful of them, because then you know that your line won’t die out, your influence will continue. Selfish, isn’t it? Only it’s not selfish, it’s what life is for. It’s the only thing that brings happiness, ever, to anyone.

All the other things – victories, achievements, honors, causes – they bring only momentary flashes of pleasure. But binding yourself to another person and to the children you make together, that’s life. And you can’t do it if your life is centered on your ambitions. You’ll never be happy. It will never be enough, even if you rule the world. (pg. 155)

That was life. Pump it in, pump it out. Sleep and wake, sleep and wake. Oh, and a little reproduction here and there. (pg. 277)

Death is not a tragedy to the one who dies. To have wasted the life before that death, that is the tragedy. (pg. 284)