Oankali Quotes & Sayings

I stand naked when I draw. God holds my hand and we sing together. — Robert Mapplethorpe

I appeal: Learn with me the lessons of history and of grace, so my children will not be afraid to say the word 'AIDS' when I am gone. Then, their children and yours may not need to whisper it at all. — Mary Fisher

Here's another thing: There are certain wounds that never heal, certain hurts that never leave you alone, like a broken bone that heals wrong and always twinges when it's about to rain. — Robert Goolrick

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

Change biology, and you could change society--but could you change society on its own? Were we as a species simply condemned to permanent misery, all because of how we have evolved?

This was the conundrum that the Oankali books had posed to her, and the Parables had been intended (but failed) to solve: How do you create a more sustainable, more benign, more livable society when you're stuck working with human beings? — Gerry Canavan

It was foolish to cast someone as a saint just because they had suffered. — Eric Greitens

I'm really trying to be in the now - that's so spiritual and stuff. It's just so much more pleasant and sane. — Robin Wright

People will just knock each other down to dial 911 and be the big hero. — Chuck Palahniuk