The Left Hand of Darkness: 50th Anniversary Edition (Ace Science Fiction)

effrontery

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”

perfidy,

Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.

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

Apollo, the god of light, of reason, of proportion, harmony, number—Apollo blinds those who press too close in worship. Don’t look straight at the sun. Go into a dark bar for a bit and have a beer with Dionysios, every now and then.

“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.

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