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Quotes from The Farthest Shore — Ursula K. Le Guin

1929–2018 United States

← All quotes by Ursula K. Le Guin

16 quotes

To claim power over what you do not understand is not wise, nor is the end of it likely to be good.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

“In innocence there is no strength against evil,” said Sparrowhawk, a little wryly. “But there is strength in it for good.”

The Farthest Shore (1972)

The word must be heard in silence; there must be darkness to see the stars.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

To see a candle’s light, one must take it into a dark place.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

No, I don’t understand him, but he is worth listening to.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

The counsel of the dead is not profitable to the living.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

One man may as easily destroy, as govern: be King or Anti-King.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

What you love, you will love. What you undertake you will complete. You are a fulfiller of hope; you are to be relied on. But seventeen years give little armor against despair...Consider, Arren. To refuse death is to refuse life.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

Young he was not, so that one had to call him old, but the word did not suit him.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

He resolved not to speak again until he had controlled his temper.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

So the first step out of childhood is made all at once, without looking before or behind, without caution, and nothing held in reserve.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

“The first lesson on Roke, and the last is, Do what is needful! And no more.”
“The lessons in between, then, must consist in learning what is needful.”
“They do.”

The Farthest Shore (1972)

“But you knew them to be evil men—”
“Was I to join them therefore? To let their acts rule my own? I will not make their choices for them, nor will I let them make mine for me!”

The Farthest Shore (1972)

Those were men in whom great strength and knowledge served the will to evil and fed upon it. Whether the wizardry that serves a better end may always prove the stronger, we do not know. We hope.

The Farthest Shore (1972)

"Aye. Like knows like, sister"

The Farthest Shore (1972)

But we, insofar as we have power over the world and over one another, we must learn to do what the leaf and the whale and the wind do of their own nature. We must learn to keep the balance. Having intelligence, we must not act in ignorance. Having choice, we must not act without responsibility. Who am I—though I have the power to do it—to punish and reward, playing with men’s destinies?”

The Farthest Shore (1972)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ursula K. Le Guin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.