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Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes

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Famous Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes

“No matter how successful, beloved, influential her work was, when a woman author dies, nine times out of ten, she gets dropped from the lists, the courses, the anthologies, while the men get kept. ... If she had the nerve to have children, her chances of getting dropped are higher still. ... So if you want your writing to be taken seriously, don't marry and have kids, and above all, don't die. But if you have to die, commit suicide. They approve of that.”

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Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
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“Those who dislike fantasy are very often equally bored or repelled by science. They don't like either hobbits, or quasars; they don't feel at home with them; they don't want complexities, remoteness. If there is any such connection, I'll bet that it is basically an aesthetic one”

IfsWantFeelsHomeFantasyConnectionsBoredComplexityDislikeAestheticRemotenessQuasars
Book:The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
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“Civilized Man says: I am Self, I am Master, all the rest is other--outside, below, underneath, subservient. I own, I use, I explore, I exploit, I control. What I do is what matters. What I want is what matter is for. I am that I am, and the rest is women & wilderness, to be used as I see fit.”

MenWantSelfMatterUseUsedMastersFitWildernessCivilizedWhat MattersExploitsSubservient
Book:Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places
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“Great artists make the roads; good teachers and good companions can point them out. But there ain't no free rides, baby. No hitchhiking. And if you want to strike out in any new direction — you go alone. With a machete in your hand and the fear of God in your heart.”

IfsWantHeartHandsArtistTeacherBabyStrikesCompanionGreat ArtistGood TeacherNew DirectionsHitchhikingMachetes
Book:The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
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“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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“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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“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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