It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
The individual cannot bargain with the State. The State recognizes no coinage but power: and it issues the coins itself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the dynamics between individuals and the state, emphasizing that power is the only currency in political interactions.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote suggests that individuals have limited leverage when it comes to negotiating with governmental authority. The state, in this context, is portrayed as a powerful entity that does not recognize traditional forms of negotiation or currency; its influence is rooted solely in the power it wields, which it generates and controls. This sheds light on the complexities of individual agency in the face of institutional power.
Themes
PowerStateIndividualAuthorityNegotiation
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate, one could reference this quote to discuss the imbalance of power between citizens and government.
More from Ursula K. Le Guin
All quotes βIn 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.
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The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
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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. 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
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
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