Octavia E. Butler: Quotes about God

Octavia E. Butler was American science fiction writer. Explore interesting quotes on god.
Octavia E. Butler: 214 quotes29 likes

““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)

“All that you touch
You Change.

All that you Change
Changes you.

The only lasting truth
Is Change.

God
Is Change.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower

Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 1 (p. 3)

“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 Wild Seed

Source: Wild Seed

“Change
is the one unavoidable,
irresistible,
ongoing reality of the universe.
To us,
that makes it the most powerful reality,
and just another word for
God.

Earthseed: The Books of the Living
Lauren Oya Olamina”

Octavia E. Butler

“A victim of God may,
Through learning adaption,
Become a partner of God,
A victim of God may,
Through forethought and planning,
Become a shaper of God.
Or a victim of God may,
Through shortsightedness and fear,
Remain God’s victim,
God’s plaything,
God’s prey.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower

Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 4 (p. 31)

“Your God doesn’t care about you at all,” Travis said.
“All the more reason to care about myself and others.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower

Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 18 (p. 221)

“We were snatched away and given alone into the hands of people who believed that it was their duty to break us and remake us in the Christian American image. And, of course, breaking people is much easier than putting them together again.
So much agony caused, so much evil done in God’s name.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents

Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 15 (p. 288)

“A lot of people seem to believe in a big-daddy-God or a big-cop-God or a big-king-God. They believe in a kind of superperson. A few believe God is another word for nature. And nature turns out to mean just about anything they happen not to understand or feel in control of.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower

Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 2 (p. 15)

“She glanced at him. “What gods do you respect?”
“None.”
“And why not?”
“I help myself,” he said.”

Octavia E. Butler Wild Seed

Source: Wild Seed (1980), Chapter 1 (p. 20)

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

Octavia E. Butler book Bloodchild and Other Stories

The Book of Martha
Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)