"I believe that maturity is not an outgrowing, but a growing up: that an adult is not a dead child, but a child who survived. I believe that all the best faculties of a mature human being exist in the child, and that if these faculties are encouraged in youth they will act well and wisely in the adult, but that if they are repressed and denied in the child they will stunt and cripple the adult personality. And finally, I believe that one of the most deeply human, and humane, of these faculties is the power of imagination: so that it is our pleasant duty ... to encourage that faculty of imagination in our children, to encourage it to grow freely, to flourish like the green bay tree, by giving it the best, absolutely the best and purest, nourishment that it can absorb. And never under any circumstances, to squelch it, or sneer at it, or imply that it is childish, or unmanly, or untrue."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Fantasy authorsScience fiction authors from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesChildren's authors20th-century poets from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?", in The Language of the Night (1979), p. 44
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin (21 October 1929 – 22 January 2018) was an American writer, known mostly for her work in science fiction and fantasy. She received the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, and was made a Grandmaster of Science Fiction in 2003.
327 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ursula K. Le Guin →
Related Quotes
"Uninfluenced by others, he never knew he influenced them; he had no idea they liked him."
"Suffering is dysfunctional, except as a bodily warning against danger. Psychologically and socially it’s merely destr…"
"It is of the nature of idea to be communicated: written, spoken, done. The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes…"
"To claim power over what you do not understand is not wise, nor is the end of it likely to be good."
"Aye. Like knows like, sister"
"O foolish writer. Now moves. Even in storytime, dreamtime, once-upon-a-time, now isn’t then."
"I can never get used to the fact, though I know it, that women are born cynics. Men have to learn cynicism. Infant gi…"
"In general I evade “virtual experiences,” which were always recorded in better weather than it is today and which tak…"
"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next."
"Greed puts out the sun."