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Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes

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Famous Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes

“Well, we think that time "passes," flows past us, but what if it is we who move forward, from past to future, always discovering the new? It would be a little like reading a book, you see. The book is all there, all at once, between its covers. But if you want to read the story and understand it, you must begin with the first page, and go forward, always in order. So the universe would be a very great book, and we would be very small readers.”

IfsThinkingWantFirstsWellsLittlesBookStoriesWould BePastMovingTimeOrderUniverseReadingReaderPagesFlowMoving ForwardWhat IfDiscoveringGreat BookTime Passes
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

InspirationalWritingEndsMatterMotivationalWomenAttitudeJourneyTravelAmbitionPositive AttitudeVacationHikingTraveledGraduationTravelerPathwaysTrekkingMotorcycleTravellerTravel WritingLife JourneyGreat TravelSpiritual JourneyInspiring TravelTravel AdventureAdventure And TravelMy JourneyLeft HandAchieving Your GoalsBikersSolo TravelInspirational AdventureLife Is A JourneyDreams And GoalsGoals And LifeWant To TravelLife PathGreat Positive AttitudeTravel JourneyHarleyPositive Attitude Towards LifeTravellers FunnyInspirational VacationRelated To CreativityYour Dreams And GoalsGreat JourneysJourneys And PathsFunny JourneyTravel And LoveNew JourneyDiscovery And TravelJourney InspirationalMy Life Is GoodEndless JourneyEnd Of JourneyCreating LifeJourney Alone
Book:The Left Hand of Darkness
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“What you select from, in order to tell your story, is nothing less than everything. What you build up your world from, your local, intelligible rational, coherent world, is nothing less than everything. . . . . All human knowledge is local. Every life, each human life is local, is arbitrary, the infinitesimal momentary glitter of a reflection.”

WorldHumansStoriesLife IsOrderHumilityReflectionLocalsRationalHuman LifeArbitrarySelectGlitterMomentaryHuman Knowledge
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“What children don't understand, and can't understand until they grow up some, is how much the whole fabric and process of human society depends on everybody agreeing to ignore, most of the time, the fact that all of us are, most of the time, inadequate, incompetent, pitiful, and, in fact, naked to our enemies. None of us really has very much in the way of spiritual, moral clothing. We dress ourselves in rags. And we agree to say nothing about it. To a very large extent, it is human charity that clothes us.”

WayHumansChildrenWholeFactsSpiritualGrowsProcessMoralEnemyGrowing UpHumilityDependsClothesDressesAgreeCharityNakedClothingsFabricInadequateHuman SocietyIncompetentRagsPitiful
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“Virginity is now a mere preamble or waiting room to be got out of as soon as possible; it is without significance. Old age is similarly a waiting room, where you go after life's over and wait for cancer or a stroke. The years before and after the menstrual years are vestigial: the only meaningful condition left to women is that of fruitfulness.”

YearsAgeLeftWaitingRoomsConditionsAgingMereCancerMeaningfulOld AgeSignificanceStrokesVirginityBefore And AfterFruitfulnessWaiting RoomsPreamble
Book:Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places
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“It is only when science asks why, instead of simply describing how, that it becomes more than technology. When it asks why, it discovers Relativity. When it only shows how, it invents the atom bomb, and then puts its hands over its eye and says, My God what have I done?”

DoneShowsHandsEyeScienceAsksTechnologyAccountsBombsOver ItAtomsDescribingRelativityAtom Bomb
Book:The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
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“Do remember, though, that unless you're a playwright, the result [dialogue] isn't what you want; it's only an element of what you want. Actors embody and re-create the words of drama. In fiction, a tremendous amount of story and character may be given through the dialogue, but the story-world and its people have to be created by the storyteller. If there's nothing in it but disembodied voices, too much is missing.”

PeopleIfsWorldWantWritingMayCharacterStoriesRememberActorsGivenVoiceResultsFictionToo MuchMissingAmountDramaElementsWhat You WantDialogueStorytellerPlaywright
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“I have never heard a dancer asking for advice about how to stay focused on her footwork, or a painter complaining about the dull day-to-day task of painting. What task worth doing isn't worth daily effort? Do you think Michelangelo was having fun the whole time he was on his back painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling?”

ThinkingWritingWholeFunEffortHeardAdvicePaintingTasksAskingFocusedComplainingPainterHaving FunDullDancerDay To DayCeilingsStay FocusedChapelSistine ChapelFootworkDull DaysAsking For Advice
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“If you have to find devices to coax yourself to stay focused on writing, perhaps you should not be writing what you're writing. And if this lack of motivation is a constant problem, perhaps writing is not your forte. I mean, what is the problem? If writing bores you, that is pretty fatal. If that is not the case, but you find that it is hard going and it just doesn't flow, well, what did you expect? It is work; art is work.”

IfsShouldWritingWellsMeanArtHardProblemMotivationCasesArt IsFlowConstantFocusedDevicesBoresStay FocusedBores YouForte
Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“The preservation of life seems to be rather a slogan than a genuine goal of the anti-abortion forces; what they want is control. Control over behavior: power over women. Women in the anti-choice movement want to share in male power over women, and do so by denying their own womanhood, their own rights and responsibilities.”

WantSeemsChoicesForceWomenGoalResponsibilityRightsShareMovementBehaviorMalesGenuineAbortionWomanhoodPreservationSlogansMen WomenAbortion RightsAnti AbortionRights And ResponsibilitiesPreservation Of Life
Book:Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places
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“The Earth is beautiful, and bright, and kindly, but that is not all. The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men's eyes.”

MenHandsEyeEarthBeautifulDarkFireSeaDyingBalanceTerribleMountainGreenCrueltyRabbitsSharksMeadows
Book:The Tombs of Atuan: The Second Book of Earthsea
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“You will die. You will not live forever. Nor will any man nor any thing. Nothing is immortal. But only to us is it given to know that we must die. And that is a great gift: the gift of selfhood. For we have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose... That selfhood which is our torment, and our treasure, and our humanity, does not endure. It changes; it is gone, a wave on the sea. Would you have the sea grow still and the tides cease, to save one wave, to save yourself?”

KnowsMenDoeStillsHumanityDiesGivenGrowsLosesGoneForeverSeaWillingBalanceEndureWaveTreasureCeaseImmortalTidesTormentLive ForeverGreat GiftsSave Yourself
Book:The Farthest Shore: Book Three
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