It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
But now his dry and silent grieving for his lost wife must end, for there she stood, the fierce, recalcitrant, and fragile stranger, forever to be won again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the complexities of love and loss, highlighting the continual effort to reconnect with a loved one.
In this quote, Ursula K. Le Guin explores the emotional landscape of mourning and the enduring bond between partners, even after loss. The imagery of a 'fierce, recalcitrant, and fragile stranger' suggests that while the beloved has changed through absence, the effort to understand and reconnect with them remains vital and ongoing, emphasizing that love is an active pursuit requiring vulnerability and resilience.
Themes
GriefLoveRelationshipLossReconnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, to express the enduring love for a lost spouse.
More from Ursula K. Le Guin
All quotes →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.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
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.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
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.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
When he found that the administrators were upset, he laughed. “Do they expect students not to be anarchists?” he said. “What else can the young be? When you are on the bottom, you must organize from the bottom up
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
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