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Octavia E. Butler: 214 quotes29 likes

“I didn’t want to scare you. We don’t want to scare anyone.”

“No? Well, sometimes it’s a good thing to scare people. Sometimes fear is all that will keep them from doing stupid things.”
Part II “Phoenix” chapter 15 (p. 381)
Adulthood Rites (1988)

“Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents

Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 11 (p. 201)

““I didn’t want to scare you. We don’t want to scare anyone.”
“No? Well, sometimes it’s a good thing to scare people. Sometimes fear is all that will keep them from doing stupid things.””

Octavia E. Butler book Adulthood Rites

Part II “Phoenix” chapter 15 (p. 381).
Adulthood Rites (1988)

“We are born not with purpose, but with potential.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents

Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 1 (p. 1)

“A tree cannot grow in its parents’ shadows.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower

Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 7 (p. 82)

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

Octavia E. Butler Wild Seed

Source: Wild Seed (1980), Chapter 1 (p. 11)

“Life was treasure. The only treasure.”

Octavia E. Butler book Imago

Source: Imago (1989), Chapter I, “Metamorphosis” section 6 (p. 564)

“Intelligence does enable you to deny facts you dislike.”

Octavia E. Butler book Dawn

Dawn

“In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents

Variant: In order to rise
From its own ashes
A phoenix
First
Must
Burn.
Source: Parable of the Talents

“When your rage is choking you, it is best to say nothing.”

Octavia E. Butler Fledgling

Source: Fledgling

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

Octavia E. Butler book Mind of My Mind

Source: Mind of My Mind (1977), Chapter 5 (p. 344)

“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 book Parable of the Talents

Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 20 (p. 392)

“He didn’t look all right to me. “Has anyone gone for the doctor?”
“Marse Tom don’t hardly get Doc West for ague. He says all the doc knows is bleeding and blistering and purging and puking and making folks sicker than they was to start.””

Octavia E. Butler book Kindred

Source: Kindred (1979), Chapter 5, “The Storm” section 3 (p. 202).

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

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower

Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 11 (p. 122)

“I can’t do it, Joachim. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. A long leash is still a leash. And Coransee will still be at the other end of it, holding on.”

Octavia E. Butler book Patternmaster

Source: Patternmaster (1976), Chapter 4 (p. 689)

““What were they saying?” Daly asked.
“They disapprove of your profession,” Doro told him.
“Heathen savages,” Daly muttered. “They’re like animals. They’re all cannibals.”
“These aren’t,” Doro said, “though some of the their neighbors are.”
“All of them,” Daly insisted. “Just give them the chance.”
Doro smiled. “Well, no doubt the missionaries will reach them eventually and teach them to practice only symbolic cannibalism.”
Daly jumped. He considered himself a pious man in spite of his work. “You shouldn’t say such things,” he whispered. “Not even you are beyond the reach of God.”
“Spare me your mythology,” Doro said, “and your righteous indignation.” Daly had been Doro’s man too long to be pampered in such matters. “At least we cannibals are honest about what we do,” Doro continued. “We don’t pretend as your slavers do to be acting for the benefit of our victims’ souls. We don’t tell ourselves we’ve caught them to teach them civilized religion.””

Octavia E. Butler Wild Seed

Source: Wild Seed (1980), Chapter 3 (p. 42)

““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.””

Octavia E. Butler book Adulthood Rites

Part II “Phoenix” chapter 4 (p. 329).
Adulthood Rites (1988)

“I might not have believed this if a Human had said it. Humans said one thing with their bodies and another with their mouths and everybody had to spend time and energy figuring out what they really meant.”

Octavia E. Butler book Imago

Source: Imago (1989), Chapter I, “Metamorphosis” section 4 (p. 548)

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

Octavia E. Butler book Kindred

Source: Kindred (1979), Chapter 3, “The Fall” section 5 (p. 81).

“We’ve also been laughed at, argued with, booed, and threatened with hellfire—or gunfire. But Jarret’s kind of religion and Jarret himself are getting less and less popular these days. Both, it seems, are bad for business, bad for the U. S. Constitution, and bad for a large percentage of the population. They always have been, but now more and more people are willing to say so in public. The Crusaders have terrorized some people into silence, but they’ve just made others very angry.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents

Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 21 (p. 430)