“We returned to the hotel and had intercourse. I like that word intercourse. It poses only a limited range of possibilities.”
“I think we ought to have our intercourse now.”
“I expect it will turn out that sexual intercourse is possible between Gethenian double-sexed and Hainish-norm one-sexed human beings, though such intercourse will inevitably be sterile. It remains to be proved; Estraven and I proved nothing except perhaps a rather subtler point.”
“In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood”
“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy the intercourse with superior minds...”
“Love between man and woman is impossible because there must not be sexual intercourse, and friendship between man and woman is impossible because there must be sexual intercourse.”