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.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
URSULA K. LE GUIN
Ursula K. Le Guin on between
Ursula K. Le Guin161 quotes“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.”
More from Ursula K. Le Guin
Life–evolution–the whole universe of space/time, matter/energy–existence itself–is essentially change.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin The world is in balance . To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin 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 GuinUrsula K. Le Guin When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin 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?
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries-the realists of a larger reality.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin It 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 GuinUrsula K. Le Guin The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin We can change our life, our being; no matter what our will is, we are changed. As the moon changes yet is one, so we are virgin, wife, mother, grandmother.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin What is the use trying to describe the flowing of a river at any one moment, and then at the next moment, and then at the next, and the next, and the next? You wear out. You say: There is a great river, and it flows through this land, and we have named it History.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin You can go home again…so long as you understand that home is a place where you have never been.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin Things don’t have purposes, as if the universe were a machine, where every part has a useful function. What’s the function of a galaxy?
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin The only questions that really matter are the ones you ask yourself.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin You can’t crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them. By refusing to think, refusing to change.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin Translation 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 GuinUrsula K. Le Guin We will not know our own injustice if we cannot imagine justice. We will not be free if we do not imagine freedom.
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin
Original quotes
From our community writers
We were dirt poor but we had each other. We didn’t need much to have a lot.
Brad NeatonBrad Neaton Always show kindness and love to others. Your words might be filling the empty places in someone else heart.
Alexander KandovAlexander Kandov One quick sip of your memory I let it slip, and I go on without you.
Emma SchippersEmma Schippers If the scars on my heart were visible to the naked eye, maybe you’d think twice about inflicting more.
Laura Natoli-KearneyLaura Natoli-Kearney I am getting better at forgetting you. I am slowly but steadily learning the art of forgetting you.
Juana GarciaJuana Garcia Paper and pen petrify me, for they pierce right through me, drawing deep blue blood, leaving me utterly cold.
Shreya JoshiShreya Joshi Spend time with people who get excited over even the smallest victories you earn.
Sonia SabnisSonia Sabnis I wonder if you were the poison or the antidote.
Ginnie BaleGinnie Bale
Meet the writers
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You know, I have several projects coming up between 2014 and 2015, and hopefully by 2015, I’ll have another hour of stand-up material where I’ll be able to go on the road and tour again.
Kevin HartKevin Hart The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and what we might have been on the one hand, and the thing we have made and the things we have made of ourselves on the other.
H. G. WellsH. G. Wells Green’ issues at last are attracting serious attention, owing to critically important links between the environment and the economy, health, and our security.
Sylvia EarleSylvia Earle The differences between friends cannot but reinforce their friendship.
Mao ZedongMao Zedong Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.
Madame de StaelMadame de Stael I know that life is really finding the right relationship between yourself and God.
Tom LandryTom Landry There is something special which rides on a game between Liverpool and United.
Jurgen KloppJurgen Klopp A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.
Michel de MontaigneMichel de Montaigne