newtypeshadow46: (hand and cloth)
newtypeshadow46 ([personal profile] newtypeshadow46) wrote2006-11-13 12:25 am

Ursula K. Le Guin: A Few Words to a Young Writer

A Few Words to a Young Writer


Socrates said, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul." He wasn't talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth.

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.

~Ursula K. Le Guin, from her Official Website

[identity profile] delphinadae.livejournal.com 2006-11-13 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I <3 Le Guin. A lot.

[identity profile] newtypeshadow46.livejournal.com 2006-11-13 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
she's amazing.

dana hadn't heard of her. i was like, wtf?

clearly, ssffs still has some work to do in the Classic Authors Department.

[identity profile] erneuerung.livejournal.com 2006-11-13 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Beautiful quote.

[identity profile] newtypeshadow46.livejournal.com 2006-11-13 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Le Guin is amazing.

[identity profile] theillusionist.livejournal.com 2006-11-14 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
i love her!! O:

[identity profile] newtypeshadow46.livejournal.com 2006-11-14 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
she's great, ne? ^_^