It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
As a kitten does what all other kittens do, so a child wants to do what other children do, with a wanting that is as powerful as it is mindless. Since we human beings have to learn what we do, we have to start out that way, but human mindfulness begins where that wish to be the same leaves off.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children often imitate others without thinking, but true mindfulness comes from understanding one's own identity.
This quote by Ursula K. Le Guin emphasizes the natural tendency of children to mimic their peers, a behavior rooted in the desire for acceptance and belonging. However, it suggests that true development and mindfulness arise when individuals move beyond mere imitation and learn to understand their own unique identities, which is a crucial step in personal growth.
Themes
ImitationMindfulnessIdentityLearningChildhood
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a parenting seminar to highlight the importance of nurturing individuality in children.
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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