It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Almost anything carried to a logical extreme becomes depressing.
Interpretation
Extreme ideas or beliefs, when taken too far, can lead to negativity and hopelessness.
This quote by Ursula K. Le Guin suggests that when we take any idea or concept to its logical conclusion without moderation, we often end up in a bleak or disheartening place. It emphasizes the importance of balance and caution in our thinking, as extremes can obscure the nuances and complexities of life, leading to a sense of despair.
In practice
In a discussion about political ideologies, this quote can highlight the dangers of radicalism.
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we're done with it, we may find - if it's a good novel - that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have changed a little... But it's very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed.
Reason is a faculty far larger than mere objective force. When either the political or the scientific discourse announces itself as the voice of reason, it is playing God, and should be spanked and stood in the corner.
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel... is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.
When he found that the administrators were upset, he laughed. βDo they expect students not to be anarchists?β he said. βWhat else can the young be? When you are on the bottom, you must organize from the bottom up
I was lying, but I wanted to rouse him. I have an inborn urge to contradict; my whole life has been a mere chain of sad and futile opposition to the dictates of either heart or reason. The presence of an enthusiast makes me as cold as a midwinter's day, and, I believe, frequent association with a listless phlegmatic would make me an impassioned dreamer.
Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to sleep through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won't be able to escape it. Still, you have to go there- to the edge of the world. There's something you can't do unless you get there.
The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.
What makes a Christian a Christian is not perfection but forgiveness.
History is neither written nor made without love or hate.
There is no law governing all things.
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