It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that closure, such as finishing a book, can bring clarity and peace of mind.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote reflects the idea that engaging deeply with a book can lead to profound thoughts and emotions, but once the story concludes and the book is closed, a sense of sanity and clarity often returns. It's a commentary on how temporary immersion in narratives allows for reflection and understanding, only to be interrupted by reality when the engagement ends.
Themes
SanityBooksClosureNarrativeReflection
In practice
Example use cases
During a TED Talk about the importance of literature in mental health, one could use this quote.
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.
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. 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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