# Quote — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore

> 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?”

- Author: [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin.md)
- Book: [The Farthest Shore](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Farthest_Shore_(1972)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/but-we-insofar

## More from this book

> “There’s nothing to fear, Lebannen,” he said gently, mockingly. “They were only the dead.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/theres-nothing-to-fear.md)

> “You exist: without name, without form. You cannot see the light of day; you cannot see the dark. You sold the green earth and the sun and stars to save yourself. But you have no self. All that which you sold, that is yourself. You have given everything for nothing. And so now you seek to draw the world to you, all that light and life you lost, to fill up your nothingness. But it cannot be filled. Not all the songs of earth, not all the stars of heaven, could fill your emptiness.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/you-exist-without.md)

> So the first step out of childhood is made all at once, without looking before or behind, without caution, and nothing held in reserve.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/so-the-first.md)