A leaf on the Wind

A new theme is developing, one that I feel is fairly important to the way we look at Star Wars characters. There have been several quotes found where a character indicates that the exercise of power (like rebuilding a palace, or lifting a ship from a gravity well) is harmful to the acquisition of power (like Yoda on Dagobah). Example:

Originally posted by Nephthys

"When i was a teenager, i was able to reach into the gravity well of a Gas Giant and pull a spacecraft out of it. That's something not many Masters can accomplish. I could do because i was strong with the Force... and because i had absolute faith in my right to do so. But i doubt i could do it today, i'm no less skilled, and i'm a lot more powerful. But now i know my intended purpose was not a good one, and that knowledge would deny me the focus i needed to perform the task. So, was i a master then, or am i a master now?"
- Jedi Master Kyp Durron

Personally, I love this as an explanation for Luke's wildly inconsistent showings, but I'm sure you all have opinions as well.
Share, discuss, and compile such quotes here!

That quote's from LotF: Exile in case anyone wants to look it up. I dunno about the page no. This is all second hand info.

Yes, this is an interesting concept, and makes quite a good explanation of the inconsistencies in certain characters 'powerlevels'.

Another (old by now) quote:

From Vision of the Future:
"No, I know," [Luke Skywalker] conceded. "I made a decision to stop using the power of the Force so much."

And suddenly, through that mixture of compassion and impatience came a wave of something completely unexpected. An overpowering flood of relief. "You got it," Mara said quietly. "Finally."

Luke shook his head. "But why?" he demanded. "The power's obviously there, available for a Jedi to use. Is it just because I touched the dark side that using it is so bad for me?"

"That's probably part of it," Mara said. "But even if you'd never done that you'd still have run into trouble. You ever been in a hullplate-shaping plant?"

"Ah - no," Luke said, blinking at the sudden change of topic.

"How about an ore-crushing facility?" she suggested. "Lando's had a couple of them at one time or another - you must have visited at least one of them."

"I've seen the one on Varn, yes," Luke said, the mention of Lando's name throwing a sudden damper on the cautiously growing feeling of excitement at these new revelations. Mara's relationship with Lando...

"Fine," Mara said, either missing the change in Luke's emotions or else ignoring it. "Sometimes small songbirds set up their nests in the upper supports of those buildings. Did you hear any of them singing when you were there?"

Luke smiled tightly. Again, it was so obvious. "Of course not," he said. "It was way too noisy in there to hear anything that quiet."

Mara smiled back. "Pretty obvious, isn't it, once you see it. The Force isn't just about power, like most non-Jedi think. It's also about guidance: everything from those impressive future visions to the more subtle realtime warnings I sometimes think of as a danger sense. Trouble is, the more you tap into it for raw power, the less you're able to hear its guidance over the noise of your own activity."

"Yes," Luke murmured, so many puzzles suddenly coming clear. He had often wondered how it was he could rebuild Darth Vader's personal fortress while Master Yoda had become winded doing something as relatively simple as lifting an X-wing from the Dagobah swamp. Clearly, Yoda had understood the choices far better than his upstart pupil.

And even in the short time since Luke had decided to try that same choice he'd already seen glimpses of why Yoda had chosen that path. Subtle bits of guidance, sometimes occurring as little more than vague and almost subconscious feelings, had been showing up more and more: protecting him from a quick capture back at the Cavrilhu Pirates' asteroid base, or quietly prompting him to accept Child Of Winds's assistance, which had led directly to this cavern and the pride-motivated aid of the Qom Jha. "I was on Iphigin a couple of months ago helping Han with some negotiations," he said. "The Diamala at the talks told Han that Jedi who used as much power as I did always ended up slipping over to the dark side."

"They may be right," Mara agreed. "Not all Dark Jedi come from botched training, you know. Some of them slip into it all by themselves."

Also I recall from The Force Unleashed that Galen was terrible at listening to teh Force and at precognition. This could be seen as an extension of this. That his unrestrained Force use deafened him to its subtleties somewhat.