It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
We broke the world to make it whole.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the paradox of destruction leading to creation and healing.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote, 'We broke the world to make it whole,' suggests that through the act of breaking down existing structures or systems, one can pave the way for renewal and healing. It highlights the idea that sometimes, in order to achieve completeness or wholeness, one must first confront and dismantle the imperfections and flaws within the world. This process, while painful and destructive, can ultimately lead to a more profound understanding and a better future.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on environmental sustainability, one might use this quote to emphasize the necessity of drastic measures for long-term restoration.
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
The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you're not a traveler. You're a f@@king tourist.
To verify images kills them, and it is always more enriching to imagine than to experience.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us... and we drown.
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
In the tumult of men and events, solitude was my temptation; now it is my friend. What other satisfaction can be sought once you have confronted History?
You're born in pain and pain is what we're in most of the time. And I think that the bigger the pain, the more gods we need.