# Quote — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

> Elegance is a small price to pay for enlightenment, and I was glad to pay it.

- Author: [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin.md)
- Book: [The Left Hand of Darkness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness.md)
- Page: 118
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness_(1969)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/elegance-is-a-small

## More from this book

> Predictions are uttered by prophets (free of charge); by clairvoyants (who usually charge a fee, and are therefore more honored in their day than prophets); and by futurologists (salaried). Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist’s business is lying.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/predictions-are-uttered.md)

> No, I don’t mean love, when I say patriotism. I mean fear. The fear of the other. And its expressions are political, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression. It grows in us, that fear. It grows in us year by year.

p. 18 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/no-i-dont.md)

> And I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend’s voice arises, and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?

p. 279 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/and-i-wondered.md)