A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

But need alone is not enough to set power free: there must be knowledge. The fog was thinning

And the truth is that as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do

Then the old man, rejoicing, said to him, “We called the boat Sanderling, but do you call her Lookfar, and paint eyes aside her prow, and my thanks will look out of that blind wood for you and keep you from rock and reef. For I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.”

“For a word to be spoken,” Ged answered slowly, “there must be silence. Before, and after.”