Estraven

Character in The Left Hand of Darkness From: The Left Hand of Darkness

Kethrani politician and companion; offers wisdom on loyalty, duty, and cultural differences

165 quotes

"Trust is not earned but given"
"Government exists to serve the governed"
Politics
"What is kept must be lost, what is kept must be seized"
Philosophy
"Two become one, and one becomes two"
Love
"Peace is a hard habit to learn"
Peace
"A man who knows he is a fool is wise, but a fool who thinks himself wise is mad"
Wisdom
"Survival requires trust, even among enemies"
Courage
"The harshest landscape reveals the deepest truths"
Philosophy
"The journey matters more than the destination"
Adventure
"Kinship is deeper than blood or politics"
Family
"Understanding begins where judgment ends"
Philosophy
"The strongest bonds are forged in shared suffering"
Strength
"Power without understanding is tyranny"
Power
"To change the world, change yourself first"
Change
"The mind adapts where the body cannot"
Strength
"Assumptions cloud the path to truth"
Wisdom
"In the frozen waste, all pretense falls away"
Truth
"The greatest gift is seeing another truly"
Kindness
"To oppose something is to maintain it."
Wisdom
"The question is not whether I love him, of course, I love him. We are kemmering."
Love
"In winter one must guard against despair."
Courage
"A wall has two sides. To destroy one side is to destroy the other."
Wisdom
"The frozen continent teaches you who you are."
Nature
"The ice demands honesty of those who cross it."
Truth
"To trust is to surrender your certainty."
"To oppose something is to maintain it"
Wisdom
"I don't know what you are, Mr. Ai, but I know what you aren't"
Truth
"Shifgrethor is the only law we have"
Philosophy
"We cannot be complete without the other"
Relationships
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday"
Humor