It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men's language. Of course women learn it. We're not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man's world, so it talks a man's language.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the male-dominated language of public speaking, highlighting the challenges women face in a patriarchal society.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote emphasizes the inherent biases in language used in public discourse, which often reflects a male perspective. She suggests that while women can navigate and learn this language, the larger societal context remains skewed towards male voices, indicating a broader issue of gender inequality and the need for diverse representation in communication.
Themes
Public SpeakingLanguageGenderSocietyCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar discussing gender roles in media, this quote could highlight the disparities in representation.
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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