The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Strictly extrapolative works of science fiction generally arrive about where the Club of Rome arrives: somewhere between the gradual extinction of human liberty and the total extinction of terrestrial life. This may explain why many people who do not read science fiction describe it as “escapist,” but when questioned further, admit they do not read it because “it’s so depressing.” Almost anything carried to its logical extreme becomes depressing, if not carcinogenic.

In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it.

when action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.

One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience.

The only other means of mobilizing people rapidly and entirely is with a new religion; none was handy; he would make do with war.

the crime of Judas lies not in his betrayal of Christ but in the act that, sealing despair, denies the chance of forgiveness, change, life: his suicide.