Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.

The line frames a stark, almost utilitarian view of individual purpose: the collective “humanity” is imagined as indifferent to personal contentment, valuing instead the exceptional contributions—intellectual, artistic, strategic—that advance the species or its causes. Read this way, “brilliant” implies excellence under pressure and the willingness to subordinate private well-being to public achievement. The phrasing also carries an ironic bite: it exposes how societies often celebrate talent while neglecting the human costs borne by the talented. In Card’s fiction, such an idea frequently resonates with gifted protagonists who are praised for results while their emotional needs are discounted, turning brilliance into a kind of duty rather than a joy.