Octavia E. Butler citations

Page 2

“Drowning people
Sometimes die
Fighting their rescuers.”

“There is no end
To what a living world
Will demand of you.”

“I'm a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black,… an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.”

“Beware
At war
Or at peace,
More people die
Of unenlightened self-interest
Than of any other disease”

“Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.”

“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.”

“He was like me - a kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying.”

“I have a huge and savage conscience that won't let me get away with things.”

“Kindness eases change
Love quiets fear”

“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”

“Kindness eases change.
Love quiets fear.
And a sweet and powerful
Positive obsession
Blunts pain,
Diverts rage,
And engages each of us
In the greatest,
The most intense
Of our chosen struggles.”

“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.”

“Repressive societies always seemed to understand the danger of "wrong" ideas.”

“Fantasy is totally wide open; all you really have to do is follow the rules you've set. But if you're writing about science, you have to first learn what you're writing about.”

“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”

“The Destiny of Earthseed
Is to take root among the stars.”

“Civilization is the way one's own people live. Savagery is the way foreigners live.”

“To get along with God,
Consider the consequences of your behavior.
Earthseed: The Books of the Living”

“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.”

“Dad decided not to vote for Donner after all. He didn’t vote for anyone. He said politicians turned his stomach.”

“Intelligence is ongoing, individual adaptability. Adaptations that an intelligent species may make in a single generation, other species make over many generations of selective breeding and selective dying. Yet intelligence is demanding. If it is misdirected by accident or by intent, it can foster its own orgies of breeding and dying.”

“We give our dead
To the orchards
And the groves.
We give our dead
To life.”

“He was surprised when I ignored him. He is wealthy and arrogant and used to being listened to even when what he says is nonsense—as it often is.”

“Helpless lust and unreasoning anxiety were just part of growing up.”

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

“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.”

“Yes,” he said, “intelligence does enable you to deny facts you dislike. But your denial doesn’t matter. A cancer growing in someone’s body will go on growing in spite of denial. And a complex combination of genes that work together to make you intelligent as well as hierarchical will still handicap you whether you acknowledge it or not.”

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

““I’m not a demagogue.”
“That’s too bad. That leaves the field to people who are demagogues—to the Jarrets of the world. And there have always been Jarrets. Probably there always will be.””