--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What to make of a diminished thing?" description: "\"“What to make of a diminished thing?”\" — Ursula K. Le Guin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2fe/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_what-to-make-of-a-diminished-thing-15502_1550292.jpg" --- # What to make of a diminished thing? ![“What to make of a diminished thing?” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2fe/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_what-to-make-of-a-diminished-thing-15502_1550292.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2fe/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_what-to-make-of-a-diminished-thing-15502_1550292.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2fe/ursula-k-le-guin-138_quote_what-to-make-of-a-diminished-thing-15502_1550292.jpg) > ““What to make of a diminished thing?”” [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. Questioning the value of something reduced or diminished. **In simple terms:** What does a diminished thing mean? Key Takeaway Consider the significance of loss. Themes meaning philosophy loss Mood contemplative thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - grief - art critique - ethical debate Key Concepts existential inquiry value assessment Questions to Reflect On - How do you assess worth when something is reduced? - Can loss lead to deeper insight? A Different Perspective A diminished thing may reveal hidden worth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Diminished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diminished/) [Diminished Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diminished-thing-2892480/) [Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make/) [Make Diminished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make-diminished-2892481/) [Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thing/) ## Related quotes > [The question that he frames in all but words is what to make of a diminished thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/the-question-that-he-frames-in-all-but-words-is-what-to-make-of-a/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [“War diminished you. It chipped chunks from your soul, took the man and molded him into a darker shadow of his real self. But”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-leadbeater/war-diminished-you-it-chipped-chunks-from-your-soul-took-the-man-and/) [David Leadbeater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-leadbeater/) > [“So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lao-tzu/so-it-is-that-some-things-are-increased-by-being-diminished-and/) [Lao Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lao-tzu/) > [It's quite rare for a group of people to come together for a live event that isn't loud music. A live event that enables…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-crouch/it-s-quite-rare-for-a-group-of-people-to-come-together-for-a-live/) [Tim Crouch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-crouch/) > [We are not diminished when someone else is added upon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-r-holland/we-are-not-diminished-when-someone-else-is-added-upon/) [Jeffrey R. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) > [I have written about cultural dislocation, and I understand the corrosive effect of diminished expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-cohen/i-have-written-about-cultural-dislocation-and-i-understand-the/) [Richard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-cohen/) > [It's the augmented fourth, or diminished fifth, depending on your outlook on life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bailey/it-s-the-augmented-fourth-or-diminished-fifth-depending-on-your/) [Bill Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bailey/) > [Once the public loses confidence in a president's leadership at a time of war, once they don't trust him anymore, once his credibility is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/once-the-public-loses-confidence-in-a-president-s-leadership-at-a/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [The Cold War is over. The kind of authority that the presidents asserted during the Cold War has now been diminished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/the-cold-war-is-over-the-kind-of-authority-that-the-presidents/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [“I cannot live without you. For to attempt to do so would be to rob both of us of each other, and that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/i-cannot-live-without-you-for-to-attempt-to-do-so-would-be-to-rob/) [Craig D. 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The world is diminished when it loses its human sayings, just as when it loses its diversity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/every-two-weeks-a-language-dies-the-world-is-diminished-when-it-loses/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [In city after city, newspaper after newspaper has diminished its staff of critics, sometimes to zero. Film and T.V. critics have been dropped and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shales/in-city-after-city-newspaper-after-newspaper-has-diminished-its-staff/) [Tom Shales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shales/) > [“When we believe a wounding story, our whole world is diminished.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-salzberg/when-we-believe-a-wounding-story-our-whole-world-is-diminished/) [Sharon Salzberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-salzberg/) ## 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 Diminished quotes > [“When we believe a wounding story, our whole world is diminished.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-salzberg/when-we-believe-a-wounding-story-our-whole-world-is-diminished/) [Sharon Salzberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-salzberg/) > [In city after city, newspaper after newspaper has diminished its staff of critics, sometimes to zero. Film and T.V. critics have been dropped and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-shales/in-city-after-city-newspaper-after-newspaper-has-diminished-its-staff/) [Tom Shales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-shales/) > [Every two weeks, a language dies. The world is diminished when it loses its human sayings, just as when it loses its diversity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/every-two-weeks-a-language-dies-the-world-is-diminished-when-it-loses/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [I'm going to say this as an ethereal effect, not something that people are necessarily aware of while it's happening, but my theory is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-scholz/i-m-going-to-say-this-as-an-ethereal-effect-not-something-that-people/) [Tom Scholz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-scholz/) > [An honor is not diminished for being shared.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-mcmaster-bujold/an-honor-is-not-diminished-for-being-shared/) [Lois McMaster Bujold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-mcmaster-bujold/) > [“I cannot live without you. For to attempt to do so would be to rob both of us of each other, and that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/i-cannot-live-without-you-for-to-attempt-to-do-so-would-be-to-rob/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [The Cold War is over. The kind of authority that the presidents asserted during the Cold War has now been diminished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/the-cold-war-is-over-the-kind-of-authority-that-the-presidents/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [Once the public loses confidence in a president's leadership at a time of war, once they don't trust him anymore, once his credibility is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/once-the-public-loses-confidence-in-a-president-s-leadership-at-a/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [It's the augmented fourth, or diminished fifth, depending on your outlook on life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bailey/it-s-the-augmented-fourth-or-diminished-fifth-depending-on-your/) [Bill Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bailey/) > [I have written about cultural dislocation, and I understand the corrosive effect of diminished expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-cohen/i-have-written-about-cultural-dislocation-and-i-understand-the/) [Richard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-cohen/) > [We are not diminished when someone else is added upon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-r-holland/we-are-not-diminished-when-someone-else-is-added-upon/) [Jeffrey R. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) > [It's quite rare for a group of people to come together for a live event that isn't loud music. A live event that enables…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-crouch/it-s-quite-rare-for-a-group-of-people-to-come-together-for-a-live/) [Tim Crouch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-crouch/) > [“So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lao-tzu/so-it-is-that-some-things-are-increased-by-being-diminished-and/) [Lao Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lao-tzu/) > [“War diminished you. It chipped chunks from your soul, took the man and molded him into a darker shadow of his real self. But”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-leadbeater/war-diminished-you-it-chipped-chunks-from-your-soul-took-the-man-and/) [David Leadbeater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-leadbeater/) > [“It wasn’t until I slowed the car and rolled down the windows that I realized I spend most of my days driving ‘through’ life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/it-wasn-t-until-i-slowed-the-car-and-rolled-down-the-windows-that-i/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) [Browse all 43 Diminished quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diminished/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What to make of a diminished thing?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ursula K. 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