The danger in trying to do good is that the mind comes to confuse the intent of goodness with the act of doing things well.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
URSULA K. LE GUIN
Ursula K. Le Guin on intent
Ursula K. Le Guin161 quotes“The danger in trying to do good is that the mind comes to confuse the intent of goodness with the act of doing things well.”
More from Ursula K. Le Guin
You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin The reason literacy is important is that literature is the operating instructions. The best manual we have. The most useful guide to the country we’re visiting, life.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin Odonianism is anarchism. Not the bomb-in-the-pocket stuff, which is terrorism, whatever name it tries to dignify itself with, not the social-Darwinist economic ‘libertarianism’ of the far right; but anarchism, as prefigured in early.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin You have made it into a thing, to which the only possible relationship is a power relationship. And thus you have fatally impoverished your own reality.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin For all their restlessness, men are who they are; once they put on the man’s toga they will not change again; so they make a virtue of that rigidity and resist whatever might soften it and set them free.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it… By using words well they strengthen their souls.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin 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 GuinUrsula K. Le Guin I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin And, as you read and re-read, the book of course participates in the creation of you, your thoughts and feelings, the size and temper of your soul.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin What good is music? None … and that is the point. To the world and its states and armies and factories and Leaders, music says, ‘You are irrelevant’; and, arrogant and gentle as a god, to the suffering man it says only, ‘
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin We need to be taught these skills; we need guides to show us how. If we don’t, our lives get made up for us by other people .
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin While we read a novel, we are insane-bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren’t there, we hear their voices… Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin Either we will establish an ecological society or society will go under for everyone, irrespective of his or her status.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin What is an anarchist? One who, choosing, accepts the responsibility of choice.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin The light is the left hand of darkness.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin
Original quotes
From our community writers
People who don’t know how to love you are always going to hurt your heart.
H. DcostaH. Dcosta I no longer seek the love I think I deserve but rather the love I’ve always deserved.
Ava NicoleAva Nicole There is no such thing as a good investment.
Manish KhuntetaManish Khunteta Without you, I’m lost.
Amanda KarchAmanda Karch I did everything I could to make it work I was casting nets into the ocean and all they were doing was returning back empty.
Carmen AmadosCarmen Amados We flew to heaven, and we touched the sun.
Jennifer JulietteJennifer Juliette You told me everything would be okay. I wish you had said – you’ll hurt but I’ll hold you.
Ullie KayeUllie Kaye Be brave, be bold, beware that you must believe before becoming.
OvyukiOvyuki
Meet the writers
More on intent
My uncle was a preacher, and I used to go watch him preach. He was also funny, so I’m very ‘preacher-ish’ on stage, not by intent but because that’s where I learned to talk in front of people.
Ron WhiteRon White Or does it signal the true intent of the national and worldwide environmental movement?
Alan CarubaAlan Caruba These inventors were elevating the formulation of entrepreneurial ideas to the status of a visionary activity. Though forced to justify their efforts in the pragmatic language of venture capital, they were at heart utopian thinkers intent on transforming the world.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton He implies that it is possible to demonstrate logically and experimentally the relationship between the proposed means and the ends they are intended to further.
Alan A. AltshulerAlan A. Altshuler Most worshippers of God are intent on the advancement of their own destiny, not on His worship.
AkbarAkbar But remember that intent is everything. One does not just jump, one lifts into the air, one rises.
Agnes de MilleAgnes de Mille Trusting that the feelings will be delivered, and that the recipient will understand the writer’s intent.
Adriana TrigianiAdriana Trigiani I have been writing. Even when I intend not to write, I find myself writing. I’m currently in a place where I should be putting together the fifth book, but then more poems are coming. It’s exciting and somewhat daunting.
Ada LimonAda Limon