“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?”

Source: Earthsea Books, The Farthest Shore (1972), Chapter 4, "Magelight" (Ged)

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Ursula K. Le Guin292

American writer 1929–2018

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