Quotes from book
The Eye of the Heron

The Eye of the Heron
Ursula K. Le Guin

The Eye of the Heron is a 1978 science fiction novel by American author Ursula K. Le Guin which was first published in the science fiction anthology Millennial Women.

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“In the self-important, Falco reflected, there is always room for a little more self-importance.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 5 (p. 66)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“And the rest, all the rest. All the days and lights and winds and years that would have been, and that would not be, that should be and were not, because he was dead. Shot dead on the road, in the wind, at twenty-one. His mountains unclimbed, never to be climbed.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 10 (p. 151)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“As I refuse violence, I refuse to serve the violent.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 1 (p. 13)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“She too had lost her luck, and known death, and gone on.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 11 (p. 167)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Armed men don’t sit down and talk.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 8 (p. 107)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“They had learned how to listen for the sense of the meeting, not the voice of the loudest. They had learned that they must judge each time whether obedience was necessary and right, or misplaced and wrong. They had learned that the act of violence is the act of weakness, and that the spirit’s strength lies in holding fast to the truth.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 4 (pp. 53-54)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Easy victories aren’t worth winning.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 4 (p. 54)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Indeed, until she had met Lev at school, it had not occurred to her that anyone might prefer to speak a plain fact rather than a lie that sounded well. People said what suited their purposes, when they were serious; and when they weren’t serious, they talked without meaning anything at all.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 2 (p. 23)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“When we’ve agreed that something ought to be done, or not done, we get very stubborn. And when that meets up with another stubbornness, it can make a kind of war, a struggle of ideas, the only kind of war anybody ever wins.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 3 (p. 44)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Nobody had made this wilderness, and there was no evil in it and no good; it simply was.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 11 (p. 162)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“If I don’t speak truth I can’t seek truth.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 5 (p. 77)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Why should he remember her? Why should she remember him? She had other things to think about. She was a grown woman. She had to face life. Even if all life had to show her was a locked door, and behind the locked door, no room.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 2 (p. 30)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

““Why are you always so full of answers?”
“Because life’s so full of questions.””

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 2 (p. 26)

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Going was easy. Keep on going was hard.”

Ursula K. Le Guin book The Eye of the Heron

Source: The Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 7 (p. 95)

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