It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
This is. And thou art. There is no safety. There is no end. The word must be heard in silence. There must be darkness to see the stars. The dance is always danced above the hollow place, above the terrible abyss.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is full of uncertainty, but we must listen and reflect in silence to find understanding.
In this quote, Ursula K. Le Guin emphasizes the complex nature of existence, suggesting that true understanding comes from quiet reflection amidst chaos. She highlights the importance of recognizing both the darkness and light in life, where challenges and profound beauty coexist. The darkness serves as a backdrop against which we can perceive the stars, metaphorically representing our aspirations and insights found in times of hardship.
Themes
ExistenceSilenceDarknessUnderstandingLifeReflectionChaosBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech about navigating life's uncertainties.
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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