The Left Hand Of Darkness

A Culture novel for grown-ups. So much of this more-or-less directly lifted into the Culture. The vividness of place is astonishing.

I thought, shivering, that there are things that outweigh comfort, unless one is an old woman or a cat.

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

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

It is a society and it has, at least potentially, a culture.

It is my fault. I have done nothing right.