Ursula K. Le Guin - Tehanu (1990)

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If women had power, what would men be but women who can't bear children? And what would women be but men who can?" "Hah!" went Tenar; and presently, with some cunning, she said, "Haven't there been queens? Weren't they women of power?" "A queen's only a she-king," said Ged. She snorted. "I mean, men give her power. They let her use their power. But it isn't hers, is it? It isn't because she's a woman that she's powerful, but despite it.

Ursula K. Le Guin
And I know that all I understand about living is having your work to do, and being able to do it. That's the pleasure, and the glory, and all. And if you can't do the work, or it's taken from you, then what's any good? You have to have something....

Ursula K. Le Guin
She obeys me, but only because she wants to.
It's the only justification for obedience, Ged observed.

Ursula K. Le Guin
Is it different, then, for men and for women?
What isn't, dearie?

Ursula K. Le Guin
But now you've come too far, and I warn you, woman! I will not have you set foot on this domain. And if you cross my will or dare so much as speak to me again, I will have you driven from Re Albi, and off the Overfell, with the dogs at your heels. Have you understood me?
No, Tenar said, I have never understood men like you.

Ursula K. Le Guin
A great deal of her obscurity and cant, Tenar had begun to realize, was mere ineptness with words and ideas. Nobody had ever taught her to think consecutively. Nobody had ever listened to what she said. All that was expected, all that was wanted of her was muddle, mystery, mumbling. She was a witchwoman. She had nothing to do with clear meaning.

Ursula K. Le Guin
A wrong that cannot be repaired must be transcended.

Ursula K. Le Guin
What is a woman's power then?" she asked. "I don't think we know." "When has a woman power because she's a woman? With her children, I suppose. For a while..." "In her house, maybe." She looked around the kitchen. "But the doors are shut," she said, "the doors are locked." "Because you're valuable." "Oh yes. We're precious. So long as we're powerless.

Ursula K. Le Guin
Her left hand reminded her of its existence, and she looked round to see what was scratching the heel of her hand. It was a tiny thistle, crouched in a crack in the sandstone, barely lifting its colorless spikes into the light and wind. It nodded stiffly as the wind blew, resisting the wind, rooted in rock. She gazed at it for a long time.

Ursula K. Le Guin
It's not a weapon or a woman can make a man, or magery either, or any power, anything but himself.

Ursula K. Le Guin
Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky.

Ursula K. Le Guin
Before the moon I am, what a woman is, a woman of power, a woman's power, deeper than the roots of trees, deeper than the roots of islands, older than the Making, older than the moon.

Ursula K. Le Guin