Quotes by Octavia E. Butler

About Octavia E. Butler:

Octavia Estelle Butler is nicknamed the "Genius Grant".
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Let them see that you trust them & let them solve their own problems, make their own decisions.Do that & they will commit their lives to you. Bully the, control them out of fear or malice or just for your own convenience, & after a while you'll have ...

Octavia E. Butler

I'm Valerie Rye,' she said, savoring the words. 'It's all right for you to talk to me.

Octavia E. Butler

First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.

Octavia E. Butler

Bloodchild" is my pregnant man story.

Octavia E. Butler

Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to reexamine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow.

Octavia E. Butler

When I was 7 and went to the zoo with my second-grade class, I saw chimpanzee eyes for the first time - the eyes of an unhappy animal, all alone, locked in a bare, concrete-floored, iron-barred cage in one of the nastier, old-fashioned zoos. I rememb...

Octavia E. Butler

Listen, no part of me is more definitive of who I am than my brain.

Octavia E. Butler

God is Change. Earthseed: The Books of the Living Lauren Oya Olamina

Octavia E. Butler

Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation. Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its adaptive f...

Octavia E. Butler

I'm trying to speak--to write-the truth. I"m trying to be clear. I'm not interested in being fancy, or even original. Clarity and truth will be plenty, if I can only achieve them.

Octavia E. Butler

We collected all the bones we could find, and yesterday, Natividad wrapped them in a shawl that she had knitted years ago. It was the most beautiful thing she owned. "A thing like that should serve the living," Bankole said when she offered it. "You ...

Octavia E. Butler

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

Octavia E. Butler

The essentials," I answered, "are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny.

Octavia E. Butler

Kindness eases change Love quiets fear

Octavia E. Butler

Beware: Ignorance Protects itself. Ignorance Promotes suspicion. Suspicion Engenders fear. Fear quails, Irrational and blind, Or fear looms, Defiant and closed. Blind, closed, Suspicious, afraid, Ignorance Protects itself, And protected, Ignorance gr...

Octavia E. Butler

That’s no little kid. That’s Jason Steed, the biggest damn hero you will ever see!

Octavia E. Butler

I used to give up writing like some people would give up smoking.

Octavia E. Butler

The norm is white, apparently, in the view of people who see things in that way. For them, the only reason you would introduce a black character is to introduce this kind of abnormality. Usually, it's because you're telling a story about racism or at...

Octavia E. Butler

I'm comfortably asocial - a hermit in the middle of a large city, a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty and drive.

Octavia E. Butler

Most of us, if we're not careful, tend to dehumanize the enemy.

Octavia E. Butler

Author Bio

  • NameOctavia E. Butler
  • DescriptionAmerican science fiction writer
  • BornJune 22, 1947
  • DiedFebruary 24, 2006
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionScience Fiction Writer; Novelist
  • AwardsMacArthur Fellows Program; Nebula Award