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 man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing,but does only and wholly what he must do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True power and knowledge often come with limitations on choices, leading one to a path of necessity.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote suggests that as an individual gains more power and understanding, their options may seem to diminish, ultimately guiding them to a path of obligation rather than freedom of choice. In this context, wisdom and responsibility intertwine, indicating that true strength often requires sacrifices and a commitment to greater responsibilities.
Themes
PowerKnowledgeResponsibilityWisdomChoices
In practice
Example use cases
During a leadership seminar, this quote can illustrate the balance between power and responsibility.
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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