It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the pervasive nature of capitalism and draws a parallel to historical systems of power that seemed unchallengeable.
Ursula K. Le Guin's quote prompts us to consider the inherent structures of power that define our society, particularly capitalism, which can feel all-consuming and unchangeable. By comparing it to the concept of the divine right of kings, she highlights that just as past forms of governance were once thought to be ordained and absolute, so too can capitalism be viewed as a system that may eventually be challenged or transformed by collective human action.
Themes
CapitalismPowerSocial ChangeHistorySociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on social systems, one could use this quote to spark discussion on the nature of power in societal structures.
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.
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. 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
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Similar quotes
The human person, whose definition serves as the touchstone according to which good must be distinguished from evil, is considered as sacred, in what one might call the ritual sense of the word. It has something of that transcendental majesty which the churches of all times have given to their Gods.
Emile DurkheimRead
The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.
Earl WarrenRead
The grand delusion of contemporary liberals is that they have both the right and the ability to move their fellow creatures around like blocks of wood - and that the end results will be no different than if people had voluntarily chosen the same action
Thomas SowellRead
All the things and events we usually consider as irreconcilable, such as cause and effect, past and future, subject and object, are actually just like the crest and trough of a single wave, a single vibration. For a wave, although itself a single event, only expresses itself through the opposites of crest and trough, high point and low point. For that very reason, the reality is not found in the crest nor the trough alone, but in their unity.
Ken WilberRead
There is no country but the heart.
Robert Penn WarrenRead
In Brazil, a poor man goes to jail when he steals. When a rich man steals, he becomes a minister.
Luiz Inacio Lula Da SilvaRead