“They are of the dream time. I don't understand it, I can't say it in words. Everything dreams. The play of form, of being, is the dreaming of substance. Rocks have their dreams, and the earth changes. . . .But when the mind becomes conscious, when the rate of evolution speeds up, then you have to be careful. Careful of the world. You must learn the way. You must learn the skills, the art, the limits. A conscious mind must be part of the whole, intentionally and carefully--as the rock is part of the whole unconsciously. Do you see? Does it mean anything to you?”

American author

Ursula K. Le Guin was an American author, active from the late 1950s into the early twenty-first century. She is best known for speculative fiction, especially the science fiction set in her Hainish universe and the fantasy series Earthsea. Her first work appeared in 1959, and her career lasted nearly sixty years. Over that time she wrote more than twenty novels and more than a hundred short stories, along with poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Although she was often described as a science fiction writer, she said she would rather be known as an American novelist.