It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ownership is an illusion; true fulfillment comes from sharing and using what we have.
In this quote, Ursula K. Le Guin conveys the idea that the concept of ownership is superficial and that the true essence of possessions lies in their shared use and enjoyment. By stating that nothing truly belongs to us, she emphasizes the importance of community and cooperation, suggesting that our experiences and resources gain value when they are shared with others. This perspective encourages a mindset that prioritizes connections over materialism, fostering a deeper appreciation for both our relationships and the world around us.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting about resource sharing, this quote can highlight the importance of collaboration.
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.
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.
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
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.
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
Similar quotes
Please pray with me for everyone in Sri Lanka and the Philippines as I begin my trip.
It seems the more I think about not sinning, the more I sin, but the more I think about just loving Jesus, the less I seem to sin. Falling in love seems to be the key.
It should not be strange that the values cherished by all the three major religions are the same, since they originate from a common source. For example, Islam, the predominant religion in the Middle East, accepts as an integral part of its religious teachings both the Old and the New Testaments. If this commonality of moral traditions among the world's major religions does not say something about the universality of religion, it does say something about the universality of mankind.
At first it seems obvious, but the more you think about it the stranger the deductions from this axiom seem to become; in the end you cease to understand what is meant by it.
The subjectivist states his judgements, whereas the objectivist sweeps them under the carpet by calling assumptions knowledge, and he basks in the glorious objectivity of science.
In every man and in every animal, however weak or wicked, great or small, resides the same omnipresent, omniscient soul. The difference is not in the soul, but in the manifestation. Between me and the smallest animal, the difference is only in manifestation, but as a principle he is the same as I am, he is my brother, he has the same soul as I have. This is the greatest principle that India has preached.