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Top 500 Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes (2026 Update)
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Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Being an irreligious puritan and a rational mystic, I think it’s irresponsible to let a belief think for you or a chemical dream for you.”

401. “Being an irreligious puritan and a rational mystic, I think it’s irresponsible to let a belief think for you or a chemical dream for you.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “There is nothing you can do that profit does not enter into, and fear of loss, and wish for power. You cannot say good morning without knowing which of you is ‘superior’ to the other, or trying to prove it. You cannot act like a brother to other people, you must manipulate them, or command them, or obey them, or trick them. You cannot touch another person, yet they will not leave you alone. There is no freedom.”

402. “There is nothing you can do that profit does not enter into, and fear of loss, and wish for power. You cannot say good morning without knowing which of you is ‘superior’ to the other, or trying to prove it. You cannot act like a brother to other people, you must manipulate them, or command them, or obey them, or trick them. You cannot touch another person, yet they will not leave you alone. There is no freedom.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “If I had to pick a hero, it would be Charles Darwin – the size of his mind, which included all that scientific curiosity and knowledge seeking, and the ability to put it all together. There is a genuine spirituality about Darwin’s thinking.”

403. “If I had to pick a hero, it would be Charles Darwin – the size of his mind, which included all that scientific curiosity and knowledge seeking, and the ability to put it all together. There is a genuine spirituality about Darwin’s thinking.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “It is not altogether a bad thing to have criminal ancestors. An arsonist grandfather may bequeath one a nose for smelling smoke.”

404. “It is not altogether a bad thing to have criminal ancestors. An arsonist grandfather may bequeath one a nose for smelling smoke.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Only what is mortal bears life, Arren. Only in death is there rebirth. The Balance is not a stillness. it is a movement – an eternal becoming.”

405. “Only what is mortal bears life, Arren. Only in death is there rebirth. The Balance is not a stillness. it is a movement – an eternal becoming.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “She obeys me, but only because she wants to. It’s the only justification for obedience, Ged observed.”

406. “She obeys me, but only because she wants to. It’s the only justification for obedience, Ged observed.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”

407. “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Morality is an utterly meaningless term unless defined as the good one does to others, the fulfilling of one’s function in the sociopolitical whole.”

408. “Morality is an utterly meaningless term unless defined as the good one does to others, the fulfilling of one’s function in the sociopolitical whole.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “All the higher, more penetrating ideals are revolutionary. They present themselves far less in the guise of effects of past experience than in that of probable causes of future experience, factors to which the environment and the lessons it has so far taught us must learn to bend.”

409. “All the higher, more penetrating ideals are revolutionary. They present themselves far less in the guise of effects of past experience than in that of probable causes of future experience, factors to which the environment and the lessons it has so far taught us must learn to bend.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “To know there is a choice is to have to make the choice: change or stay: river or rock.”

410. “To know there is a choice is to have to make the choice: change or stay: river or rock.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “If you deny any affinity with another person or kind of person, if you declare it to be wholly different from yourself.”

411. “If you deny any affinity with another person or kind of person, if you declare it to be wholly different from yourself.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war.”

412. “Primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “The poet Roethke said, “I learn by going where I have to go.”

413. “The poet Roethke said, “I learn by going where I have to go.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “When in the Land of Property think like a propertarian. Dress like one, eat like one, act like one, be one.”

414. “When in the Land of Property think like a propertarian. Dress like one, eat like one, act like one, be one.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “To believe that our beliefs are permanent truths which encompass reality is a sad arrogance. To let go of that belief is to find safety.”

415. “To believe that our beliefs are permanent truths which encompass reality is a sad arrogance. To let go of that belief is to find safety.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “There is no kingdom like the forests.”

416. “There is no kingdom like the forests.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “The natural, proper, fitting shape of the novel might be that of a sack, a bag. A book holds words. Words hold things. They bear meanings. A novel is a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us.”

417. “The natural, proper, fitting shape of the novel might be that of a sack, a bag. A book holds words. Words hold things. They bear meanings. A novel is a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “What the brain does by itself is infinitely more fascinating and complex than any response it can make to chemical stimulation.”

418. “What the brain does by itself is infinitely more fascinating and complex than any response it can make to chemical stimulation.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “The infinite possibility, the unlimited and unqualified wholeness of being of the uncommitted, the nonacting, the uncarved; the being who, being nothing but himself, is everything.”

419. “The infinite possibility, the unlimited and unqualified wholeness of being of the uncommitted, the nonacting, the uncarved; the being who, being nothing but himself, is everything.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “The interplay of the aesthetic with the erotic is complex. The peacock’s tail is beautiful to us, sexy to the peahen. Beauty and sexual attractiveness overlap, coincide. They may be deeply related. I think they should not be confused.”

420. “The interplay of the aesthetic with the erotic is complex. The peacock’s tail is beautiful to us, sexy to the peahen. Beauty and sexual attractiveness overlap, coincide. They may be deeply related. I think they should not be confused.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “What is his purpose, then?” “I don’t know. Things don’t have purposes, as if the universe were a machine, where every part has a useful function. What’s the function of a galaxy? I don’t know if our life has a purpose and I don’t see that it matters. What does matter is that we’re a part.”

421. “What is his purpose, then?” “I don’t know. Things don’t have purposes, as if the universe were a machine, where every part has a useful function. What’s the function of a galaxy? I don’t know if our life has a purpose and I don’t see that it matters. What does matter is that we’re a part.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “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.”

422. “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 Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “We scarcely know how much of our pleasure and interest in life comes to us through our eyes until we have to do without them; and part of that pleasure is that the eyes can choose where to look. But the ears can’t choose where to listen.”

423. “We scarcely know how much of our pleasure and interest in life comes to us through our eyes until we have to do without them; and part of that pleasure is that the eyes can choose where to look. But the ears can’t choose where to listen.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “To see that your life is a story while you’re in the middle of living it may be a help to living it well.”

424. “To see that your life is a story while you’re in the middle of living it may be a help to living it well.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Outside the locked room is the landscape of time, in which the spirit may, with luck and courage, construct the fragile, makeshift, improbable roads and cities of fidelity: a landscape inhabitable by human beings.”

425. “Outside the locked room is the landscape of time, in which the spirit may, with luck and courage, construct the fragile, makeshift, improbable roads and cities of fidelity: a landscape inhabitable by human beings.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Honorifics and meaningless ritual phrases of greeting, leave-taking, permission-asking, and false gratitude, please, thank you, you’re welcome, goodbye, fossil relics of primitive hypocrisy – all were stumbling blocks to truthfulness between producer-consumers.”

426. “Honorifics and meaningless ritual phrases of greeting, leave-taking, permission-asking, and false gratitude, please, thank you, you’re welcome, goodbye, fossil relics of primitive hypocrisy – all were stumbling blocks to truthfulness between producer-consumers.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “I was with you at the beginning of your journey. It is right that I should follow you to its end.”

427. “I was with you at the beginning of your journey. It is right that I should follow you to its end.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Life in the auntring, or for a settled man, is repetitive, as I said; and so it can be dull. Nothing new happens. The mind always wants new happenings.”

428. “Life in the auntring, or for a settled man, is repetitive, as I said; and so it can be dull. Nothing new happens. The mind always wants new happenings.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Where, then, is Truth?” declaimed Bedap, and yawned. “In the hill one happens to be sitting on,” said Tirin.”

429. “Where, then, is Truth?” declaimed Bedap, and yawned. “In the hill one happens to be sitting on,” said Tirin.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Our border now is no line between two hills, but the line our planet makes in circling the Sun.”

430. “Our border now is no line between two hills, but the line our planet makes in circling the Sun.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Even in the obscure vast history of a planet the time it takes to make a forest counts. It takes a while. And not every planet can do it; it is no common effect, that tangling of the sun’s first cool light in the shadow and complexity of innumberable wind-stirred branches.”

431. “Even in the obscure vast history of a planet the time it takes to make a forest counts. It takes a while. And not every planet can do it; it is no common effect, that tangling of the sun’s first cool light in the shadow and complexity of innumberable wind-stirred branches.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “What is more arrogant than honesty?”

432. “What is more arrogant than honesty?”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Anyhow they’re always exceptions. But most women, their only relationship to a man is having. Either owning or being owned.”

433. “Anyhow they’re always exceptions. But most women, their only relationship to a man is having. Either owning or being owned.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “There is no kingdom like the forests. It is time I went there, went in silence, went alone. And maybe there I would learn at last what no act or art or power can teach me, what I have never learned.”

434. “There is no kingdom like the forests. It is time I went there, went in silence, went alone. And maybe there I would learn at last what no act or art or power can teach me, what I have never learned.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Suffering is dysfunctional, except as a bodily warning against danger. Psychologically and socially it’s merely destructive.”

435. “Suffering is dysfunctional, except as a bodily warning against danger. Psychologically and socially it’s merely destructive.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “The old knowledge had been difficult but not distressing. It had been all paradox and myth, and it had made sense. The new knowledge was all fact and reason, and it made no sense.”

436. “The old knowledge had been difficult but not distressing. It had been all paradox and myth, and it had made sense. The new knowledge was all fact and reason, and it made no sense.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Which is better off, a lizard basking in the sun or a philosopher?”

437. “Which is better off, a lizard basking in the sun or a philosopher?”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “It is a real wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe.”

438. “It is a real wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Featured in: Real Quotes

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “The Tao Te Ching is partly in prose, partly in verse; but as we define poetry now, not by rhyme and meter but as a patterned intensity of language, the whole thing is poetry. I wanted to catch that poetry, its terse, strange beauty. Most translations have caught meanings in their net, but prosily, letting the beauty slip through. And in poetry, beauty is no ornament; it is the meaning. It is the truth. We have that on good authority.”

439. “The Tao Te Ching is partly in prose, partly in verse; but as we define poetry now, not by rhyme and meter but as a patterned intensity of language, the whole thing is poetry. I wanted to catch that poetry, its terse, strange beauty. Most translations have caught meanings in their net, but prosily, letting the beauty slip through. And in poetry, beauty is no ornament; it is the meaning. It is the truth. We have that on good authority.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “A lot of snow out of one cloud, and it grows thicker.”

440. “A lot of snow out of one cloud, and it grows thicker.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “We of Es Toch tell a little myth, which says that in the beginning the Creator told a great lie. For there was nothing at all, but the Creator spoke, saying, It exists. And behold, in order that the lie of God might be God’s truth, the universe at once began to exist.”

441. “We of Es Toch tell a little myth, which says that in the beginning the Creator told a great lie. For there was nothing at all, but the Creator spoke, saying, It exists. And behold, in order that the lie of God might be God’s truth, the universe at once began to exist.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “A person who believes, as she did, that things fit: that there is a whole of which one is a part, and that in being a part one is whole: such a person has no desire whatever, at any time, to play God. Only those who have denied their being yearn to play at it.”

442. “A person who believes, as she did, that things fit: that there is a whole of which one is a part, and that in being a part one is whole: such a person has no desire whatever, at any time, to play God. Only those who have denied their being yearn to play at it.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Why can I never set my heart on a possible thing?”

443. “Why can I never set my heart on a possible thing?”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “If memory remains sound and the thinking mind retains its vigor, an old intelligence may have extraordinary breadth and depth of understanding.”

444. “If memory remains sound and the thinking mind retains its vigor, an old intelligence may have extraordinary breadth and depth of understanding.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “We weren’t cruel, we were ignorant, foolish. Children are ignorant and foolish. But they learn. If they are given a chance to learn.”

445. “We weren’t cruel, we were ignorant, foolish. Children are ignorant and foolish. But they learn. If they are given a chance to learn.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “It is hard, I found, to be called traitor. Strange how hard it is, for it’s an easy name to call another man.”

446. “It is hard, I found, to be called traitor. Strange how hard it is, for it’s an easy name to call another man.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “So when one stands in a cherished place for the last time before a voyage without return, he sees it all whole, and real, and dear, as he has never seen it before and never will see it again.”

447. “So when one stands in a cherished place for the last time before a voyage without return, he sees it all whole, and real, and dear, as he has never seen it before and never will see it again.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “A man would know the end he goes to, but he cannot know it if he does not turn, and return to his beginning, and hold that beginning in his being.”

448. “A man would know the end he goes to, but he cannot know it if he does not turn, and return to his beginning, and hold that beginning in his being.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “No man, no power, can bind the action of wizardry or still the words of power. For they are the very words of Making, and one who could silence them could unmake the world.”

449. “No man, no power, can bind the action of wizardry or still the words of power. For they are the very words of Making, and one who could silence them could unmake the world.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin Quote: “Almost everything is double like that for adolescents; their lies are true and their truths are lies, and their hearts are broken by the world. They gyre and fall; they see through everything, and are blind.”

450. “Almost everything is double like that for adolescents; their lies are true and their truths are lies, and their hearts are broken by the world. They gyre and fall; they see through everything, and are blind.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

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