Octavia Butler

Ignorance Protects itself, And protected, Ignorance grows.

— Octavia Butler

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

— Octavia Butler

Slavery is a long slow process of dulling.

— Octavia Butler

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

— Octavia Butler

Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable.

— Octavia Butler

In order to rise From its own ashes A phoenix First Must Burn.

— Octavia Butler

Belief initiates and guides action - or it does nothing.

— Octavia Butler

Be who you are and not who someone else thinks you ought to be.

— Octavia Butler

I began reading science fiction before I was 12 and started writing science fiction around the same time.

— Octavia Butler

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

— Octavia Butler

No... a novel is a long business. I'm a slow writer, even when I'm doing very well I write slowly.

— Octavia Butler

“You belong to me. You'll do what I say or you'll suffer for it" (pg. 135)”

— Octavia Butler

Rejections are painful, but inevitable. They're every writer's rite of passage.

— Octavia Butler

I would never have been a good scientist - my attention span was too short for that.

— Octavia Butler

The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.

— Octavia Butler

I recognize we will pay more attention when we have different leadership.

— Octavia Butler

A workshop is a way of renting an audience, and making sure you're communicating what you think you're communicating. It's so easy…

— Octavia Butler

People who want to write either do it or they don't. At last I began to say that my most important talent…

— Octavia Butler

I talked to members of my family, and did some personal research that didn't really have anything to do with the time…

— Octavia Butler

No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was…

— Octavia Butler

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

— Octavia Butler

All religions are ultimately cargo cults. Adherents perform required rituals, follow specific rules, and expect to be supernaturally gifted with desired rewards…

— Octavia Butler

On the other hand, I was very much interested in the way people behaved, the human dance, how they seemed to move…

— Octavia Butler

While Fledging is a different type of book, The Parable series serve as cautionary tales. I wrote the Parable books because of…

— Octavia Butler

We need the stars... We need purpose! We need the image the Destiny to take root among the stars gives us of…

— Octavia Butler

It's when people begin using their religion as just a way of getting power over other people that scares me. I'm afraid…

— Octavia Butler

“My brother Keith begged to go with us as usual. He'll turn thirteen in a few days - August 14 - and…

— Octavia Butler

“When apparent stability disintegrates, As it must-- God is Change-- People tend to give in To fear and depression, To need and…

— Octavia Butler

Most of what I do is science fiction. Some of the things I do are fantasy. I don't like the labels, they're…

— Octavia Butler

It's interesting how many science fiction writers get going when they are very young. I was on a program with Greg Bear…

— Octavia Butler

Drowning people Sometimes die Fighting their rescuers.

— Octavia Butler

There's no narcotic like exhaustion.

— Octavia Butler

The only lasting truth is change. God is change.

— Octavia Butler

A tree Cannot grow In its parents' shadows.

— Octavia Butler

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

— Octavia Butler

I'm me, and I'm here, and I'm writing,

— Octavia Butler

Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.

— Octavia Butler

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

— Octavia Butler

...I can write my own stories and I can write myself in.

— Octavia Butler

You are horror and beauty in rare combination.

— Octavia Butler