Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker questions the value of thoughts if the body is controlled by others.
In plain terms
If my body does what they want, does my thinking matter?
What can you take from it?
Control of action can undermine the value of thought.

Where it applies

  • oppression
  • work environments
  • relationships

Putting it to work

  • assert autonomy
  • find value in thought
  • seek freedom

Questions to consider

  • Does thought matter without action?
  • How do you maintain agency?

Another view

Thought can still hold intrinsic value even if action is limited.

More from Orson Scott Card

  1. They gave me powers of thought and memory far beyond anything natural evolution would have given me, but that doesn't give them the right to decide the meaning…

    Permalink to quote #702
  2. Sometimes when people mess up their lives and want to make a fresh start, the way they do it is to go somewhere nobody knows them. You can be a different perso…

    Permalink to quote #704
  3. At that point, if I had consciously realized what I was already planning to do, if I had admitted my rage, my feelings of betrayal, then my conditioning would …

    Permalink to quote #701

Related quotes

  1. Les heures sont faictez pour l'homme, & non l'homme pour les heures.

    Francois RabelaisFrancois Rabelais quote #6
  2. Well, I'm your man. I'm the bloody bastard you wanted when you had me spawned. I'm your tool, and what difference does it make if I hate the part of me that yo…

    Orson Scott CardOrson Scott Card quote #26
  3. I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.

    Charlotte BronteCharlotte Bronte quote #28