“A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic competition will grow up with the will to do what needs doing and the capacity for joy in doing it. It is useless work that darkens the heart. The delight of the nursing mother, of the scholar, of the successful hunter, of the good cook, of the skillful maker, of anyone doing needed work and doing it well—this durable joy is perhaps the deepest source of human affection, and of sociality as a whole.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin , Hainish Cycle

Source: Hainish Cycle, (1974), Chapter 8 (p. 247)

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Ursula K. Le Guin 292

American writer 1929–2018

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