Page 1634 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"Would Ender have been like you, if he had come home? Arrogant? Aloof?" "Not at all," said Bean. "But I never killed anybody."
"Except buggers," said Mrs. Wiggin.
"Why are we at war with each other?" said Bean.
"I've told you everything about my son, about my family, and you've given me nothing back. Except your ... sneer."
"I'm not sneering," said Bean. "I like you." "Oh, thank you very much."
"I can see in you the mother of Ender Wiggin," said Bean. "You understand Peter the way Ender understood his soldiers. The way Ender understood his enemies. And you're bold enough to act instantly when the opportunity presents itself. I show up on your doorstep, and you give me all this. No, ma'am, I don't despise you at all. And you know what I think? I think that, perhaps without even realizing it yourself, you believe in Peter completely. You want him to succeed. You think he should rule the world. And you've told me all this, not because I'm such a nice little boy, but because you think that by telling me, you'll help Peter move that much closer toward ultimate victory."
She shook her head. "Not everybody thinks like a soldier."
"Hardly anyone does," said Bean. "Precious few soldiers, for that matter."
"Let me tell you something, Julian Delphiki. You didn't have a mother and father, so you need to be told. You know what I dread most? That Peter will pursue these ambitions of his so relentlessly that he'll never have a life."
"Conquering the world isn't a life?" asked Bean.
"Alexander the Great," said Mrs. Wiggin. "He haunts my nightmares for Peter. All his conquests, his victories, his grand achievements-they were the acts of an adolescent boy. By the time he got around to marrying, to having a child, it was too late. He died in the midst of it. And he probably wouldn't have done a very good job of it either. He was already too powerful before he even tried to find love. That's what I fear for Peter."
"Love? That's what this all comes down to?"
"No, not just love. 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