Portrait of Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

Science fiction, fantasy

Modern influential 99 sayings

Sayings by Ursula K. Le Guin

I think it’s a bad idea to censor what kids read. I think it’s a bad idea to censor what anybody reads.

2015 — Interview with The Guardian
General Unverifiable

I am an old lady. I’m going to die soon. I want to say what I think.

2014 — National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters acceptance speech
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.

1969 — The Left Hand of Darkness
General Unverifiable

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

1969 — The Left Hand of Darkness
General Unverifiable

I hate to be told by some guy in a suit that I shouldn't be writing about this or that because it's not 'marketable.'

2015 — Interview with The Guardian
Life & Aging Unverifiable

The one thing that makes it possible to get through life is to laugh. If you don't laugh, you're dead.

2017 — Interview with The Paris Review
Life & Aging Unverifiable

The artist is a servant of the art, not a master of it.

1979 — The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
General Unverifiable

My mind is a muddle. I can't write a coherent sentence. I'm going to go eat a cookie.

2016 — Tweet
Food & Drink Unverifiable

We are all children of the universe, and we are all connected.

1973 — Acceptance speech for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature
General Unverifiable

The truth is a matter of the imagination.

1969 — The Left Hand of Darkness
General Unverifiable

I write for myself and for my friends. And for the people who are not my friends, but who might become my friends.

2017 — Interview with The Paris Review
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.

1974 — The Dispossessed
General Unverifiable

I have been trying to learn to use words, and every time I use them, they don't do what I want them to do.

1979 — The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

The greatest good is to live with honor and to love with passion.

1970 — The Tombs of Atuan
Relationships Unverifiable

I am a feminist. I've been a feminist all my life. I think it's a perfectly normal thing to be.

2015 — Interview with The Guardian
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

I think a writer's job is to tell the truth. And the truth is not always pretty.

2000 — Speech at the Library of Congress
Work & Money Unverifiable

The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have any feelings, and then you're dead.

1974 — The Dispossessed
General Unverifiable

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the road to heaven is paved with them too.

1985 — Always Coming Home
General Unverifiable

I don't believe in happy endings. I believe in happy journeys.

2015 — Interview with The Guardian
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

The trouble with you, my dear, is that you think you're important.

1972 — The Farthest Shore
General Unverifiable
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