“It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love. Love does not obey the mind, it turns to hate when forced. The bond that binds us is beyond choice. We are brothers. We are brothers in what we share. In pain, which each of us must suffer alone, in hunger, in poverty, in hope, we know our brotherhood. We know it, because we have been forced to learn it. We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give.”
Source: Hainish Cycle, (1974), Chapter 9 (p. 300) — from the protagonist’s major speech.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Ursula K. Le Guin 292
American writer 1929–2018Related quotes

1960s, Address to Cornell College (1962)

One who having loved His own which are in the world loves them to the end.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 176.

1950s, Loving Your Enemies (Christmas 1957)

Miss Shangay Lily, Mari, ¿me pasas el poppers?

No Compromise – No Political Trading (1899)