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We decided that it was no good asking what is the meaning of life, because life isn't an answer, life is the question, and you, yourself, are the answer.
Ursula K. Le Guin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Life is not about finding answers, but about exploring questions, with personal understanding being key.

This quote by Ursula K. Le Guin reflects the idea that life should not be approached as a series of questions seeking definitive answers. Instead, it emphasizes that the essence of life involves questioning and the personal journey of understanding oneself, suggesting that each individual has the potential to find their own meaning and truth through their experiences.

Themes

MeaningLifeQuestionsSelfUnderstanding

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about personal growth, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of self-discovery.

More from Ursula K. Le Guin

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
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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. β€œDo they expect students not to be anarchists?” he said. β€œWhat 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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