Octavia Butler Quotes

1947–2006 United States

Octavia E. Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, one of the very few African-American women in the field.

United States
Authors
Feminists
Novelists
Science fiction authors

Also known as: Octavia E. Butler

Random Octavia Butler quote

68 quotes

If everyone could feel everyone else’s pain, who would torture?

Parable of the Sower (1993)

Life is getting better, but that won’t stop a war if politicians and business people decide it’s to their advantage to have one.

Parable of the Talents (1998)

Short-lived people, people who could die, did not know what enemies loneliness and boredom could be.

Wild Seed (1980)

You tend to resent people you’re afraid of.

Parable of the Sower (1993)

It’s better to teach people than to scare them, Lauren. If you scare them and nothing happens, they lose their fear, and you lose some of your authority with them.

Parable of the Sower (1993)

If you hear nonsense like that often enough for long enough, you begin to believe it.

Parable of the Talents (1998)

Margaret Weylin complained because she couldn’t find anything to complain about.

Kindred (1979)

I’m literate, and the idea of leaving children illiterate is criminal.

Parable of the Talents (1998)

Jarrett would be easier to take if he cared half as much about children’s bodies and minds as he pretends to care about their souls.

Parable of the Talents (1998)

Sometimes, one must become a master to avoid becoming a slave.

Wild Seed (1980)

I wonder what a badge is, other than a license to steal.

Parable of the Sower (1993)

“Don’t you know everything?”
God smiled. “No, I outgrew that trick long ago. You can’t imagine how boring it was.”

Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)

If you don’t care about my people, why should I care about yours?

Adulthood Rites (1988)

You're truly free for the first time. What could be more difficult than that?

Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)

He showed me his fantastic library first, and that helped me warm to him a little. A guy with a room like that in his house couldn’t be all bad.

Mind of My Mind (1977)

He thought about that for a moment, wondered what he should say. The truth or nothing. The truth.

Adulthood Rites (1988)

“When it comes to strangers with guns,” I told her, “I think suspicion is more likely to keep you alive than trust.”

Parable of the Sower (1993)

A pet. In pets, free will was tolerated only as long as the pet owner found it amusing.

Mind of My Mind (1977)

Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation.

Parable of the Sower (1993)

People have changed the climate of the world. Now they’re waiting for the old days to come back’

Parable of the Sower (1993)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Octavia Butler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.