--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think hard times are coming. We will…" description: "\"I think hard times are coming. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries, the realists of a larger reality.\" — Ursula K. Le Guin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/ursula-k-le-guin-138_freedom_i-think-hard-times-are-coming-we-will-ne_1475181.jpg" --- # I think hard times are coming. We will need writers who… ![“I think hard times are coming. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries, the realists of a larger reality.” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/ursula-k-le-guin-138_freedom_i-think-hard-times-are-coming-we-will-ne_1475181.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/ursula-k-le-guin-138_freedom_i-think-hard-times-are-coming-we-will-ne_1475181.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/ursula-k-le-guin-138_freedom_i-think-hard-times-are-coming-we-will-ne_1475181.jpg) > “I think hard times are coming. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries, the realists of a larger reality.” [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. Society will need writers who recall true liberty, blending poetry, vision, and realism to capture broader truths. **In simple terms:** Writers must keep freedom alive in their work. Key Takeaway Cultivate fearless, visionary writing. Themes literature freedom poetry vision realism future Mood hopeful urgent Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - journalism - fiction - political commentary Key Concepts imagination social critique truth‑seeking Questions to Reflect On - What does freedom mean for a writer today? - How can poetry inspire social change? A Different Perspective Freedom can be constrained by censorship or market pressures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Freedom Poets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-poets-5363805/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Hard time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard-time/) [Hard times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard-times/) [Need Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/need-writers-1095332/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poets Visionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets-visionaries-2108014/) [Realist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realist/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember/) [Remember Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember-freedom-1638239/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Visionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/visionaries/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-think-hard-times-are-coming-when-we-will-be-wanting-the-voices-of/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [We need writers who know the difference between the production of a commodity and the practice of an art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/we-need-writers-who-know-the-difference-between-the-production-of-a/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Whenever they tell me children want this sort of book and children need this sort of writing, I am going to smile politely and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/whenever-they-tell-me-children-want-this-sort-of-book-and-children/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“The hallucinations are innumerable. That's what has always been the matter with me, in fact: no belief in history, obliviousness of principles. 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You need writers whose lives are not like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-scalzi/but-my-writing-won-t-ever-reflect-the-diversity-that-literature-in/) [John Scalzi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-scalzi/) > [Remember, freedom is always taken, never given.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adams/remember-freedom-is-always-taken-never-given/) [Scott Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adams/) > [We need writers who fear nothing. ("Our Goal")](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/we-need-writers-who-fear-nothing-our-goal/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [Remember you always have freedom of choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-holzer/remember-you-always-have-freedom-of-choice/) [Jenny Holzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-holzer/) > [“Writers need readers and readers need writers”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-james/writers-need-readers-and-readers-need-writers/) [Caroline James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-james/) ## 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 Freedom quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-robison/some-people-still-believe-you-should-just-fall-in-line-with-what-s/) [Emily Robison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-robison/) > [I believe in freedom to do what you want if you aren't hurting others, but pictures of obese protesters giving their children big gulps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-defranco/i-believe-in-freedom-to-do-what-you-want-if-you-aren-t-hurting-others/) [Philip DeFranco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-defranco/) > [Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/elections-belong-to-the-people-it-s-their-decision-if-they-decide-to/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [If we gave up our freedom as the price of security, we would no longer be the great nation that we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-bader-ginsburg/if-we-gave-up-our-freedom-as-the-price-of-security-we-would-no-longer/) [Ruth Bader Ginsburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-bader-ginsburg/) > [We live in the greatest country in the world because of the veterans who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and the security…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-husted/we-live-in-the-greatest-country-in-the-world-because-of-the-veterans/) [Jon Husted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-husted/) > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [“No one was more surprised than I to realize that my newfound freedom had been purchased by giving up on eternity and settling for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-jessop/no-one-was-more-surprised-than-i-to-realize-that-my-newfound-freedom/) [Carolyn Jessop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-jessop/) > [“In a world of fixed future, there can be no right or wrong. 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