--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Ethical counsel from the Under White…" description: "\"“Ethical counsel from the Under White Mountain people, far down the eastern coast of the Inland Sea, was not very well received. They advised: ‘Do not ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg" --- # Ethical counsel from the Under White Mountain people, far… ![“Ethical counsel from the Under White Mountain people, far down the eastern coast of the Inland Sea, was not very well received. They advised: ‘Do not fight these sick people, cure them with human behavior,’ to which Rekwit responded tersely, ‘You come up north here and do that.” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg) > ““Ethical counsel from the Under White Mountain people, far down the eastern coast of the Inland Sea, was not very well received. They advised: ‘Do not fight these sick people, cure them with human behavior,’ to which Rekwit responded tersely, ‘You come up north here and do that.”” [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A warning that moral advice may be ignored when it conflicts with cultural habits, highlighting the difficulty of changing entrenched behaviors. **In simple terms:** Moral advice often meets resistance. Key Takeaway Recognize cultural barriers to change. Themes ethics cultural clash communication Mood thoughtful cautious Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - policy making - public health - conflict resolution Key Concepts humanitarianism social inertia Questions to Reflect On - How can you adapt counsel to different cultures? - What strategies overcome resistance to change? A Different Perspective Solutions may be impractical without local buy‑in. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Human behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-behavior/) ## Related quotes > [“People, he told her, are shaped somehow by their climate and the land they live in. Those who live by the sea are like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gil-courtemanche/people-he-told-her-are-shaped-somehow-by-their-climate-and-the-land/) [Gil Courtemanche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gil-courtemanche/) > [“If people are either mountain people or ocean people then I'm a mountain person. I love the ocean, the few times I get a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-marsden/if-people-are-either-mountain-people-or-ocean-people-then-i-m-a/) [John Marsden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-marsden/) > [I grew up in the North-East so identifying with mountain people - their simplicity and honesty - comes naturally to me. I even call…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-banerjee/i-grew-up-in-the-north-east-so-identifying-with-mountain-people-their/) [Victor Banerjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-banerjee/) > [The mountain is nothing without people on it. Often you part expedition exasperated, but a year or two later you go back with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-child/the-mountain-is-nothing-without-people-on-it-often-you-part/) [Greg Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-child/) > [“Your daughter needs you to be a rational damn human being,” replied Sloane. “Pull your head out of your ass and stop making empty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seanan-mcguire/your-daughter-needs-you-to-be-a-rational-damn-human-being-replied/) [Seanan McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seanan-mcguire/) > [“Don't make people control your life, People only care about themselves. Live your life with happy and ignore Sick people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-hanouf-halawi/don-t-make-people-control-your-life-people-only-care-about-themselves/) Al-Hanouf Halawi > [“She knows how to feed her soul with a few quick breaths of outdoor air from the stairwell. She can bide her time till…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-frost/she-knows-how-to-feed-her-soul-with-a-few-quick-breaths-of-outdoor/) [Michelle Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-frost/) > [Materialistic greedy people, you know the sick people who have no connection with the community because of their infinite greed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/materialistic-greedy-people-you-know-the-sick-people-who-have-no/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I took the test for AIDS. I began to hate people who were not sick. Those people are monsters, I would think, believing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabelle-adjani/i-took-the-test-for-aids-i-began-to-hate-people-who-were-not-sick/) [Isabelle Adjani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabelle-adjani/) > [We've got all these politicians talking about better health care and what all, but believe me, we're not going to have the money to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-boone-pickens/we-ve-got-all-these-politicians-talking-about-better-health-care-and/) [T. Boone Pickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-boone-pickens/) > [“You know a lot of sick people,” he said. “I know a lot of dead people.” Sandro reached over to a shelf above the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeline-ashby/you-know-a-lot-of-sick-people-he-said-i-know-a-lot-of-dead-people/) [Madeline Ashby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeline-ashby/) > [In the future, it's going to become more and more impossible for the economy to support how expensive medical care is and the number…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-fuhrman/in-the-future-it-s-going-to-become-more-and-more-impossible-for-the/) [Joel Fuhrman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-fuhrman/) > [My advice is if we can't replace Obamacare by ourselves, to go to the Democrats and say this. 10% of the sick people in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindsey-graham/my-advice-is-if-we-can-t-replace-obamacare-by-ourselves-to-go-to-the/) [Lindsey Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindsey-graham/) > [Victim disarmament types are sick, sick people, who'd rather see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose than see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/victim-disarmament-types-are-sick-sick-people-who-d-rather-see-a/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Guns aren't the problem; sick people are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-sessions/guns-aren-t-the-problem-sick-people-are/) [Pete Sessions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-sessions/) ## More by Ursula K. Le Guin > [“...I wore his blood for clothing, on my legs and thighs and hands: a dry, stiff, brown garment with no warmth in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-wore-his-blood-for-clothing-on-my-legs-and-thighs-and-hands-a-dry/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/translation-is-entirely-mysterious-increasingly-i-have-felt-that-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Aeneas' mother is a star?" "No; a goddess." I said cautiously, "Venus is the power that we invoke in spring, in the garden, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/aeneas-mother-is-a-star-no-a-goddess-i-said-cautiously-venus-is-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Meaning - this is perhaps the common note, the bane I am seeking. What is the Meaning of this book, this event in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/meaning-this-is-perhaps-the-common-note-the-bane-i-am-seeking-what-is/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/for-fantasy-is-true-of-course-it-isn-t-factual-but-it-is-true/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“. . . chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/chronosophy-does-involve-ethics-because-our-sense-of-time-involves/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“If both you and your plane are on time, the airport is merely a diffuse, short, miserable prelude to the intense, long, miserable plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/if-both-you-and-your-plane-are-on-time-the-airport-is-merely-a/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“The author is not impartial. Dystopia is not tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-author-is-not-impartial-dystopia-is-not-tragedy/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/between-thought-and-spoken-word-is-a-gap-where-intention-can-enter/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I have no control over my writing. I have lots of good intentions, but no control. There's a story that wants to be told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-no-control-over-my-writing-i-have-lots-of-good-intentions-but/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I did a lot today. That is, I did something. The only thing I have ever done. I pressed a button. It took the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-did-a-lot-today-that-is-i-did-something-the-only-thing-i-have-ever/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Hector had no virtue?” “Of course he did. He won all his battles, till the last one.” “We all do,” Aeneas remarked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/hector-had-no-virtue-of-course-he-did-he-won-all-his-battles-till-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I was willing to believe him that most modern writing was trash, on the evidence that so much old writing was trash; but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-was-willing-to-believe-him-that-most-modern-writing-was-trash-on/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Can women operate as women in a male institution without becoming imitation men?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/can-women-operate-as-women-in-a-male-institution-without-becoming/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) [Explore all 1,114 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/i-m-often-moved-by-the-circumstances-around-some-of-my-characters-but/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) David Hudgins > [It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/it-can-sometimes-make-people-fold-into-themselves-and-kind-of-run/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/) > [In the fight between biology and morality, biology has commonly won in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/semir-zeki/in-the-fight-between-biology-and-morality-biology-has-commonly-won-in/) [Semir Zeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/semir-zeki/) > [Your looks don't make you pretty, it's the person inside who makes you pretty!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-chan/your-looks-don-t-make-you-pretty-it-s-the-person-inside-who-makes-you/) [Aaron Chan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-chan/) > [I'm not a huge social media kind of guy, so I don't really know, I don't really ever get... at least in real life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freddie-stroma/i-m-not-a-huge-social-media-kind-of-guy-so-i-don-t-really-know-i-don/) [Freddie Stroma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freddie-stroma/) > [If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/courage-the-most-important-of-all-the-virtues-because-without-courage/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I'm a character actor - always have been, always will be - and historically, character actors don't come into their own until later in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-potts/i-m-a-character-actor-always-have-been-always-will-be-and/) [Annie Potts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-potts/) [Browse all 32,707 Character quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Ethical counsel from the Under White Mountain people, far down the eastern coast of the Inland Sea, was not very well received. They advised: ‘Do not fight these sick people, cure them with human behavior,’ to which Rekwit responded tersely, ‘You come up north here and do that.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mountain-people-far-down-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Character" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mountain-people-far-down-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93d/ursula-k-le-guin-138_character_ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mou_2898837.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ethical counsel from the Under White Mountain people, far down the eastern coast of the Inland Sea, was not…” — Ursula K. Le Guin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Ethical counsel from the Under White...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mountain-people-far-down-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/ethical-counsel-from-the-under-white-mountain-people-far-down-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```