--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Science fiction properly conceived, like…" description: "\"Science fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is in fact going on, what people actua..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b4/ursula-k-le-guin-138_belly_science-fiction-properly-conceived-like_1214589.jpg" --- # Science fiction properly conceived, like all serious… ![“Science fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is in fact going on, what people actually do and feel, how people relate to everything else in this vast sack, this belly of the universe, this womb of things to be and tomb of things…” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b4/ursula-k-le-guin-138_belly_science-fiction-properly-conceived-like_1214589.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b4/ursula-k-le-guin-138_belly_science-fiction-properly-conceived-like_1214589.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b4/ursula-k-le-guin-138_belly_science-fiction-properly-conceived-like_1214589.jpg) > “Science fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is in fact going on, what people actually do and feel, how people relate to everything else in this vast sack, this belly of the universe, this womb of things to be and tomb of things that were, this unending story.” [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. Science fiction reflects reality by exploring human behavior, emotions, and relationships within a vast, interconnected universe. **In simple terms:** Sci‑fi mirrors real life and human connections. Key Takeaway Use stories to understand and question reality. Themes imagination human nature storytelling Mood reflective inquisitive Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading sci‑fi - writing speculative fiction - discussing themes in groups Key Concepts philosophy cosmology social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does speculative fiction change your view of society? - What truths do you see in fantastical worlds? A Different Perspective Fiction can oversimplify complex issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belly/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-funny-1118959/) [Fiction Properly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-properly-3695444/) [Like Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-fiction/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Relate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relate/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-fiction/) [Serious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serious/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Tombs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tombs/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Unending](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unending/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [Universe Womb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe-womb-3695445/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Womb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/womb/) ## Related quotes > [“Science Fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is going on, what people actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/science-fiction-properly-conceived-like-all-serious-fiction-however/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Just as heart is a fountain of unspoken words, the universe is a womb of wonder weird worlds.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/just-as-heart-is-a-fountain-of-unspoken-words-the-universe-is-a-womb/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [Being serious is serious business in fiction. It's commercial or hoi polloi in fiction to be funny. It's too accessible to the great unwashed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-ferris/being-serious-is-serious-business-in-fiction-it-s-commercial-or-hoi/) [Joshua Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-ferris/) > [Research for fiction is a funny thing: you go looking for one piece of information, and find something altogether different.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nell-freudenberger/research-for-fiction-is-a-funny-thing-you-go-looking-for-one-piece-of/) [Nell Freudenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nell-freudenberger/) > [I have told the story I was asked to tell. I have closed it, as so many stories close, with a joining of two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-told-the-story-i-was-asked-to-tell-i-have-closed-it-as-so-many/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I like books steeped in the quotidian - details about work and place. You can learn how to run a chicken-and-waffle restaurant by reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-lippman/i-like-books-steeped-in-the-quotidian-details-about-work-and-place/) [Laura Lippman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-lippman/) > [“I do believe that you can never know yourself let alone the person next to you let alone the person halfway across the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nam-le/i-do-believe-that-you-can-never-know-yourself-let-alone-the-person/) [Nam Le](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nam-le/) > [I think one of the reasons that I like fiction versus nonfiction is that I myself can kind of disappear from the story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celeste-ng/i-think-one-of-the-reasons-that-i-like-fiction-versus-nonfiction-is/) [Celeste Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celeste-ng/) > [Memory is like fiction; or else it's fiction that's like memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/memory-is-like-fiction-or-else-it-s-fiction-that-s-like-memory/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Memory is like fiction; or else it's fiction that's like memory. This really came home to me once I started writing fiction, that memory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/memory-is-like-fiction-or-else-it-s-fiction-that-s-like-memory-this-2/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/a-film-is-or-should-be-more-like-music-than-like-fiction-it-should-be/) [Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/) > [I was in my senior year of high school when I read 'Notes From Underground' by Dostoyevsky, and it was an exhilarating discovery. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-messud/i-was-in-my-senior-year-of-high-school-when-i-read-notes-from/) [Claire Messud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-messud/) > [“Write non-fiction like fiction, so the reader is constantly turning the page to find out what happens next, and write fiction like non-fiction, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-robinson/write-non-fiction-like-fiction-so-the-reader-is-constantly-turning/) [Jeffrey Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-robinson/) > [I read certain things about history. I don't like fiction. I read about stuff that's real, stuff that's goin' on in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prodigy/i-read-certain-things-about-history-i-don-t-like-fiction-i-read-about/) [Prodigy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prodigy/) > [“Doesn't every previous era feel like fiction once it's gone?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/doesn-t-every-previous-era-feel-like-fiction-once-it-s-gone/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) ## 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 Belly quotes > [I'm bigger than you! I'm higher on the food chain - get in my belly!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-myers/i-m-bigger-than-you-i-m-higher-on-the-food-chain-get-in-my-belly/) [Mike Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-myers/) > [I was the first to win a major with a belly putter, and I've spent hours practicing that way, so I hope they don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keegan-bradley/i-was-the-first-to-win-a-major-with-a-belly-putter-and-i-ve-spent/) [Keegan Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keegan-bradley/) > [That devilish Iron Horse, whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town, has muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot, and he it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/that-devilish-iron-horse-whose-ear-rending-neigh-is-heard-throughout/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I liked the taste of beer, its live, white lather, its brass-bright depths, the sudden world through the wet-brown walls of the glass, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/i-liked-the-taste-of-beer-its-live-white-lather-its-brass-bright/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [“Somewhere squidgy. Your belly, maybe?” “I can’t believe you called my belly ‘squidgy.’ It’s not squidgy, it’s pillowy. And sexy!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-peeler/somewhere-squidgy-your-belly-maybe-i-can-t-believe-you-called-my/) [Nicole Peeler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-peeler/) > [“That man’s so low he has to reach up to rub the belly of a snake.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-carson/that-man-s-so-low-he-has-to-reach-up-to-rub-the-belly-of-a-snake/) [Rae Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-carson/) > [We sat there, not talking, for a few minutes. He ate the Moon Pie; only skinny people can scarf down junk food like that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dessen/we-sat-there-not-talking-for-a-few-minutes-he-ate-the-moon-pie-only/) [Sarah Dessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dessen/) > [I get so nervous, I get belly pains before I go on stage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-ora/i-get-so-nervous-i-get-belly-pains-before-i-go-on-stage/) [Rita Ora](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-ora/) > [I can reason down or deny everything, except this perpetual Belly: feed he must and will, and I cannot make him respectable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-can-reason-down-or-deny-everything-except-this-perpetual-belly-feed/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I've learned ballet for seven years and Kathak and belly dancing for some time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nidhhi-agerwal/i-ve-learned-ballet-for-seven-years-and-kathak-and-belly-dancing-for/) [Nidhhi Agerwal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nidhhi-agerwal/) > [It's very important to not repeat yourself. After 'Delhi Belly,' I was offered 40 'Delhi Belly's and you can't do that! So 'Revolver Rani'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vir-das/it-s-very-important-to-not-repeat-yourself-after-delhi-belly-i-was/) [Vir Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vir-das/) > [I asked these Indians: "Do men ever make Chicha?" My question was met with gales of laughter. The women howled. Bent over in hilarity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-d-eames/i-asked-these-indians-do-men-ever-make-chicha-my-question-was-met/) [Alan D. Eames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-d-eames/) > [Wit, like the Belly, if it be not fed, Will starve the Members, and distract the Head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-defoe/wit-like-the-belly-if-it-be-not-fed-will-starve-the-members-and/) [Daniel Defoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-defoe/) > [After three years down here, I've not learned too much. But one thing I do know is that our bellies aren't big enough for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/after-three-years-down-here-i-ve-not-learned-too-much-but-one-thing-i/) [N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) > [The City of New York is like an enormous citadel, a modern Carcassonne. Walking between the magnificent skyscrapers one feels the presence on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-city-of-new-york-is-like-an-enormous-citadel-a-modern-carcassonne/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) [Browse all 662 Belly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belly/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Science fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is in fact going on, what people actually do and feel, how people relate to everything else in this vast sack, this belly of the universe, this womb of things to be and tomb of things that were, this unending story.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ursula K. 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