To claim power over what you do not understand is not wise, nor is the end of it likely to be good.
URSULA K. LE GUINTo claim power over what you do not understand is not wise, nor is the end of it likely to be good.
URSULA K. LE GUINOur roots are in the dark; the earth is our country.
URSULA K. LE GUINTranslation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like anything else.
URSULA K. LE GUINGrieving, like being blind, is a strange business; you have to learn how to do it. We seek company in mourning, but after the early bursts of tears, after the praises have been spoken, and the good days remembered, and the lament cried, and the grave closed, there is no company in grief. It is a burden borne alone.
URSULA K. LE GUINThe presence of the trees was very strong…The big oaks stood so many, so massive in their other life, in their deep, rooted silence: the awe of them came on me, the religion.
URSULA K. LE GUINThe world is in balance . To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
URSULA K. LE GUINTo hear, one must be silent.
URSULA K. LE GUINIf you deny any affinity with another person or kind of person, if you declare it to be wholly different from yourself.
URSULA K. LE GUINThe end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.
URSULA K. LE GUINI had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.
URSULA K. LE GUINA writer either speaks to adults and bores kids, or speaks to kids and upsets adults.
URSULA K. LE GUINLife–evolution–the whole universe of space/time, matter/energy–existence itself–is essentially change.
URSULA K. LE GUINIt doesn’t have to be plugged in, activated, or performed by a machine; all it needs is light, a human eye, and a human mind. It is not one of a kind, and it is not ephemeral. It lasts. It is reliable.
URSULA K. LE GUINThe only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
URSULA K. LE GUINIt’s a rare gift, to know where you need to be, before you’ve been to all the places you don’t need to be.
URSULA K. LE GUINPeople who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.
URSULA K. LE GUIN