It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers understand the power of words and use them carefully to express deeper truths and emotions.
This quote highlights the significance of words in the craft of writing, emphasizing that writers are deeply aware of the meanings, sounds, and impacts of the language they choose. Through meticulous care and creativity, they harness the potential of words to not only express their own truths but also enrich and empower the souls of those who read their works, transforming writing from a mere communication tool into a profound art form.
Themes
WordsWritingTruthFreedomCareArtSoulStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
A motivational speaker might quote this to emphasize the importance of choosing words carefully in communication.
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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