Octavia E. Butler Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Octavia E. Butler.
Famous Quotes By Octavia E. Butler
Let them see that you trust them & let them solve their own problems, make their own decisions.Do that & they will commit their lives to you. Bully the, control them out of fear or malice or just for your own convenience, & after a while you'll have to spend all your time thinking for them, controlling them, & stifling their resentment. — Octavia E. Butler
Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never completed, and, if we're as intelligent as we like to think we are, never abandoned. — Octavia E. Butler
The essentials," I answered, "are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny. — Octavia E. Butler
Most Humans lose access to old memories as they acquire new ones. They know how to speak, for instance, but they don't recall learning to speak. They keep what experience has taught them - usually - but lose the experience itself. We — Octavia E. Butler
You are hierarchical. That's the older and more entrenched characteristic. We saw it in your closest animal relatives and in your most distant ones. It's a terrestrial characteristic. When human intelligence served it instead of guiding it, when human intelligence did not even acknowledge it as a problem, but took pride in it or did not notice it at all ... That was like ignoring cancer. — Octavia E. Butler
There is no power in having strength and brains, and yet waiting for God to fix things for you or take revenge for you. — Octavia E. Butler
In my years, I have seen that people must be their own gods and make their own good fortune. The bad will come or not come anyway. — Octavia E. Butler
You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.
That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence. — Octavia E. Butler
Humans said one thing with their bodies and another with their mouths and everyone had to spend time and energy figuring out what they really meant. — Octavia E. Butler
To get along with God,
Consider the consequences of your behavior.
Earthseed: The Books of the Living — Octavia E. Butler
how could they let insane people gain control of devices that could do so much harm? If you knew a man was out of his mind, you restrained him. You didn't give him power. — Octavia E. Butler
no one had been able to give him a reason why people who had excellent reasons to suppose they would destroy themselves if they did a certain thing chose to do that thing anyway. — Octavia E. Butler
We're an adaptable species," she said, refusing to be stopped, "but it's wrong to inflict suffering just because your victim can endure it." "Learn — Octavia E. Butler
Movies are extremely imitative of one another. Whatever works, people will try to do it. — Octavia E. Butler
Did she struggle for life only out of habit, or because some part of her still hoped that there was something worth living for? — Octavia E. Butler
Rufus had caused her trouble, and now he had been rewarded for it. It made no sense. No matter how kindly he treated her now that he had destroyed her, it made no sense. — Octavia E. Butler
Worship is no good without action. With action, it's only useful if it steadies you, focuses your efforts, and eases your mind — Octavia E. Butler
There seem to be solid biological reasons why we are the way we are. If there weren't, the cycles wouldn't keep replaying. The human species is a kind of animal, of course. But we can do something no other animal species has ever had the option to do. We can choose: We can go on building and destroying until we either destroy ourselves or destroy the ability of our world to sustain us. Or we can make — Octavia E. Butler
Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you're afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It's about not being able to stop at all. — Octavia E. Butler
He'll mind. I can see that he's very possessive of you
and very protective." He paused, then said, "Let him mind, Shori. Talk to him. Help him. Reassure him. Stop Violence. But let him feel what he feels and settle his feelings his own way."
"All right."
" ... Let them see that you trust them and let them solve their own problems, make their own decisions. Do that and they will willingly commit their lives to you. Bully them, control them out of fear or malice or just for your own convenience, and after a while, you'll have to spend all your time thinking for them, controlling them, and stifling their resentment. — Octavia E. Butler
Prayers only help the person doing the praying, and then, only if they strengthen and focus that person's resolve. — Octavia E. Butler
Hollywood wants to go for the flash, because that's what a lot of them think science fiction is. — Octavia E. Butler
Writing has been as difficult for me as for people who don't like to write and as little fun. — Octavia E. Butler
Science fiction, extrasensory perception, and black people are judged by the worst elements they produce. — Octavia E. Butler
But tired as I was, I couldn't sleep. I thought of Alice, and then of Rufus, and I realized that Rufus had done exactly what I had said he would do: Gotten possession of the woman without having to bother with her husband. Now, somehow, Alice would have to accept not only the loss of her husband, but her own enslavement. Rufus had caused her trouble, and now he had been rewarded for it. It made no sense. No matter how kindly he treated her now that he had destroyed her, it made no sense. I — Octavia E. Butler
Gather information. Seek weakness. Watch, wait, and do what you have to to stay alive! — Octavia E. Butler
In order to rise
From its own ashes
A phoenix
First
Must
Burn. — Octavia E. Butler
Well, writing was what I wanted to do, it was always what I wanted to do. I had novels to write so I wrote them. — Octavia E. Butler
I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open. I was able to do anything and there were no walls to hem you in and there was no human condition that you were stopped from examining. — Octavia E. Butler
When your rage is choking you, it is best to say nothing. — Octavia E. Butler
We keep falling into the same ditches, you know? I mean, we learn more and more about the physical universe, more about our own bodies, more technology, but somehow, down through history, we go on building empires of one kind or another, then destroying them in one way or another. We go on having stupid wars that we justify and get passionate about, but in the end, all they do is kill huge numbers of people, maim others, impoverish still more, spread disease and hunger, and set the stage for the next war. And when we look at all of that in history, we just shrug our shoulders and say, well, that's the way things are. That's the way things always have been. — Octavia E. Butler
Was an eternity of absolute ease just another name for hell? — Octavia E. Butler
I lost an arm on my last trip home. — Octavia E. Butler
We can,
Each of us,
Do the impossible
As long as we can convince ourselves
That it has been done before. — Octavia E. Butler
Belief Initiates and guides action - Or it does nothing. — Octavia E. Butler
I'm sorry that astronaut will be brought back from her own chosen heaven. — Octavia E. Butler
How much of this nonsense does he believe, I wonder, and how much does he say just because he knows the value of dividing in order to conquer and to rule? Well, — Octavia E. Butler
AT LEAST THREE YEARS ago, my fathers God stopped being my God. His church stopped being my church. And yet, today, because I'm a coward, I let myself be initiated into that church. I let my father baptize me in all three names of that God who isn't mine any more. My God has another name. — Octavia E. Butler
Daddy's the only man I know," he said softly, "who cares as much about giving his word to a black as to a white. — Octavia E. Butler
These things frighten people. It's best not to talk about them." "But, Dad, that's like ... like ignoring a fire in the living room because we're all in the kitchen, and, besides, house fires are too scary to talk about. — Octavia E. Butler
Slavery was a long slow process of dulling. — Octavia E. Butler
Bloodchild" is my pregnant man story. — Octavia E. Butler
Create no images of God. Accept the images that God has provided. They are everywhere, in everything. God is Change - Seed to tree, tree to forest; Rain to river, river to sea; Grubs to bees, bees to swarm. From one, many; from many, one; Forever uniting, growing, dissolving - forever Changing. The universe is God's self-portrait. — Octavia E. Butler
All struggles are essentially power struggles. Who will rule? Who will lead? Who will define, refine, confine, design? Who will dominate? All struggles are essentially power struggles,and most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together. — Octavia E. Butler
How dull it is to have people defining you. — Octavia E. Butler
Freedom is dangerous but it's precious, too. You can't just throw it away or let it slip away. You can't sell it for bread and pottage. — Octavia E. Butler
Your people contain incredible potential, but they die without using much of it. — Octavia E. Butler
When I meet a woman who attracts me, I prefer women,' she said. 'And when I meet a man who attracts me, I prefer men.'
'You mean you haven't made up your mind yet.'
'I mean exactly what I said. I told you you wouldn't like it. Most people who ask want me definitely on one side or the other. — Octavia E. Butler
to be aware of a place where blackness was not a mark of slavery. — Octavia E. Butler
If you want a thing
truly want it, want it so badly that you need it as you need air to breathe, then unless you die, you will have it. Why not? It has you. There is no escape. What a cruel and terrible thing escape would be if escape were possible — Octavia E. Butler
Strangely, they seemed to like him, hold him in contempt, and fear him all at the same time. This confused me because I felt just about the same mixture of emotions for him myself. I had thought my feelings were complicated because he and I had such a strange relationship. But then, slavery of any kind fostered strange relationships. Only the overseer drew simple, unconflicting emotions of hatred and fear when he appeared briefly. But then, it was part of the overseer's job to be hated and feared while the master kept his hands clean. — Octavia E. Butler
Beware:
Ignorance
Protects itself.
Ignorance
Promotes suspicion.
Suspicion
Engenders fear.
Fear quails,
Irrational and blind,
Or fear looms,
Defiant and closed.
Blind, closed,
Suspicious, afraid,
Ignorance
Protects itself,
And protected,
Ignorance grows. — Octavia E. Butler
Mars is a rock - cold, empty, almost airless, dead. Yet it's heaven in a way. We can see it in the night sky, a whole other world, but too nearby, too close within the reach of the people who've made such a hell of life here on Earth. — Octavia E. Butler
Religion is everywhere. There are no human societies without it, whether they acknowledge it as a religion or not. — Octavia E. Butler
The norm is white, apparently, in the view of people who see things in that way. For them, the only reason you would introduce a black character is to introduce this kind of abnormality. Usually, it's because you're telling a story about racism or at least about race. — Octavia E. Butler
People do blame you for the things they do to you. — Octavia E. Butler
Yes," he said, "intelligence does enable you to deny facts you dislike. But your denial doesn't matter. — Octavia E. Butler
So I preached from Luke, chapter eighteen, verses one through eight: the parable of the importunate widow. It's one I've always liked. A widow is so persistent in her demands for justice that she overcomes the resistance of a judge who fears neither God nor man. She wears him down. Moral: The weak can overcome the strong if the weak persist. Persisting isn't always safe, but it's often necessary. — Octavia E. Butler
Power came the way a child came -- with agony. — Octavia E. Butler
We have, it seems, a few people who think Jarret may be just what the country needs - apart from his religious nonsense. The thing is, you can't separate Jarret from the "religious nonsense." You take Jarret and you get beatings, burnings, tarrings and featherings. They're a package. And there may be even nastier things in that package. Jarret's supporters are more than a little seduced by Jarret's talk of making America great again. He seems to be unhappy with certain other countries. We could wind up in a war. Nothing like a war to rally people around flag, country, and great leader. — Octavia E. Butler
he still knows how to rouse his rabble, how to reach out to poor people, and sic them on other poor people. How much of this nonsense does he believe, I wonder, and how much does he say just because he knows the value of dividing in order to conquer and to rule? — Octavia E. Butler
I think we need people with stronger ideals than John Kerry or Bill Clinton. I think we need people with more courage and vision. — Octavia E. Butler
Could she give Doro what he wanted - what she herself had wanted for so long - children who would not die? — Octavia E. Butler
Sometimes I wrote things because I couldn't say them, couldn't sort out my feelings about them, couldn't keep them bottled inside me. — Octavia E. Butler
There must be good marriages somewhere, but to me, marriage had the feel of people tolerating each other, enduring each other because they were afraid to be alone or because each was a habit that the other couldn't quite break. — Octavia E. Butler
He was like me - a kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying. — Octavia E. Butler
There are so many interesting times we could have visited. — Octavia E. Butler
First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice. — Octavia E. Butler
Most of us, if we're not careful, tend to dehumanize the enemy. — Octavia E. Butler
I think people really need to think what it's like to have all of society arrayed against you. — Octavia E. Butler
Embrace diversity. Unite - Or be divided, robbed, ruled, killed By those who see you as prey. Embrace diversity Or be destroyed. — Octavia E. Butler
I'd rather see the others."
"What others?"
"The ones who make it. The ones living in freedom now."
"If any do."
"They do."
"Some say they do. It's like dying, though, and going to heaven. Nobody ever comes back to tell you about it. — Octavia E. Butler
I found that I couldn't muster any belief in a literal heaven or hell, anyway. I thought the best we could all do was to look after one another and clean up the various hells we've made right here on earth. — Octavia E. Butler
If vampires were a separate species, and they were into genetic engineering, what would they engineer for? — Octavia E. Butler
Jarret condemns the burnings, but does so in such mild language that his people are free to hear what they want to hear. As for the beatings, the tarring and feathering, and the destruction of "heathen houses of devil-worship," he has a simple answer: "Join us! Our doors are open to every nationality, every race! Leave your sinful past behind, and become one of us. Help us to make America great again." He's had notable success with this carrot-and-stick approach. — Octavia E. Butler
There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns. — Octavia E. Butler
I don't know how much of a market there is for space opera. Just because it's in the movies doesn't mean magazines are buying it. — Octavia E. Butler
Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see. — Octavia E. Butler
I'm a fifty-three-year-old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer. — Octavia E. Butler
The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes it seems as though there aren't any other kind ... — Octavia E. Butler
You want to know how moral she is?" His tone made me frown. "What do you mean?" "If she chases me any harder, she and I will wind up playing a scene from that Bible she reads. The scene between Potiphar's wife and Joseph. — Octavia E. Butler
Intelligence is relatively new to life on Earth, but your hierarchical tendencies are ancient. — Octavia E. Butler
I pecked my stories out two-fingered on the Remington portable typewriter my mother had bought me. I had begged for it when I was ten. — Octavia E. Butler
Human beings fear difference," Lilith had told him once. "Oankali crave difference. Humans persecute their different ones, yet they need them to give themselves definition and status. Oankali seek difference and collect it. They need it to keep themselves from stagnation and overspecialization. If you don't understand this, you will. You'll probably find both tendencies surfacing in your own behavior." And she had put her hand on his hair. "When you feel a conflict, try to go the Oankali way. Embrace difference." Akin — Octavia E. Butler
Someday Rufus would own the plantation. Someday, he would be the slaveholder, responsible in his own right for what happened to the people who lived in those half-hidden cabins. The boy was literally growing up as I watched - growing up because I watched and because I helped to keep him safe. I was the worst possible guardian for him - a black to watch over him in a society that considered blacks subhuman, a woman to watch over him in a society that considered women perennial children. I would have all I could do to look after myself. But I would help him as best I could. And I would try to keep friendship with him, maybe plant a few ideas in his mind that would help both me and the people who would be his slaves in the years to come. — Octavia E. Butler
Delusional pain hurts just as much as pain from actual trauma. So what if it's all in your head? — Octavia E. Butler
I'm not pessimistic about much of anything. — Octavia E. Butler
Science fiction is not formulaic. — Octavia E. Butler
My god," Bankole said. "This country has slipped back two hundred years." "Things were better when I was little," Emery said. "My mother always said they would get better again. Good times would come back. She said they always did. My father would shake his head and not say anything. — Octavia E. Butler
As a kind of castaway myself, I was happy to escape into the fictional world of someone else's trouble. — Octavia E. Butler
This would be so goddamn much easier if I weren't human," she said. "Think about it. If I weren't human, why the hell would I care whether you got raped? — Octavia E. Butler
As a black and as a woman, I didn't think that I would really want to live in any of the eras before this, because I would inevitably be worse off. I would have spent more time struggling just to prove I was human than doing my work. — Octavia E. Butler
Frankly, it never occurred to me that I needed someone who looked like me to show me the way. I was ignorant and arrogant and persistent and the writing left me no choice at all.9 — Octavia E. Butler
She glanced at him. "What gods do you respect?" "None." "And why not?" "I help myself," he said. — Octavia E. Butler
Jarret insists on being a throwback to some earlier, "simpler" time. Now does not suit him. Religious tolerance does not suit him. The current state of the country does not suit him. He wants to take us all back to some magical time when everyone believed in the same God, worshipped him in the same way, and understood that their safety in the universe depended on completing the same religious rituals and stomping anyone who was different. There was never such a time in this country. But these days when more than half the people in the country can't read at all, history is just one more vast unknown to them. Jarret — Octavia E. Butler