50 Octavia Butler Quotes From The Science Fiction Author

Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction author.

Octavia E. Butler was the first science fiction author to receive the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. She also won the Hugo and the Nebula awards multiple times.

Octavia E. Butler is especially known for her work 'Kindred' which has a black female protagonist. When it comes to science fiction quotations, no list is fulfilled without quotes from the works of Octavia Butler. If you want to know more about the unique world of science fiction, keep on reading the Octavia E. Butler quotes. Reading her books is a good habit.

If you like the Octavia Butler quotes, do check out Ursula K. Le Guin quotes and Philipp K. Dick quotes.

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Here are some of the best Octavia E. Butler sci-fi quotes that you will want to know. Let us have a look at some of the best quotes from the books of this black female author.

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

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

2. “Intelligence does enable you to deny facts you dislike. But your denial doesn't matter.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

3. “To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler,'Parable Of The Talents'.

4. “Drowning people

Sometimes die

Fighting their rescuers.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

5. “Religion is everywhere. There are no human societies without it, whether they acknowledge it as a religion or not.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

6. “When I was between 2 and 3 years old, I got to know my first non-human being. The non-human was a cocker spaniel named Baba.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

7. “If vampires were a separate species, and they were into genetic engineering, what would they engineer for?”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

8. “To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler,'Parable Of The Talents'.

9. “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.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

10.  "To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to."

‒ Octavia E. Butler,'Parable Of The Talents'.

As a black American woman, Octavia E. Butler tried to do her best to show the world her talent for creating new worlds through persistence. Look out for the quotes about being dependable.

11. “If you don't have it, it doesn't matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

12. “I began writing about power because I had so little.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

13. “A workshop is a way of renting an audience, and making sure you’re communicating what you think you’re communicating.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

14. “Why aren’t there more SF Black writers? There aren’t because there aren’t.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

15.  "Even professional writers have days when they'd rather clean the toilet than do the writing."

Octavia E. Butler.

16. “Writers use everything. We can’t help it. Whatever touches us touches our writing.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

17. “Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

18. “I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

19. “I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

20. “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler.

'Parable Of The Sower' Octavia Butler quotes are a must-read for anybody who wants to know more about the writer as well as her love for God.

21. “There is no end

To what a living world

Will demand of you.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

22. “Prodigy is, at its essence, adaptability and persistent, positive obsession. Without persistence, what remains is an enthusiasm of the moment.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

23. “Unite— Or be divided, robbed, ruled, killed By those who see you as prey. Embrace diversity Or be destroyed.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

24. “God is Power—

Infinite,

Irresistible,

Inexorable,

Indifferent.

And yet, God is Pliable—

Trickster,

Teacher,

Chaos,

Clay.

God exists to be shaped.

God is Change.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

25. “All I do is observe and take notes, trying to put things down in ways that are as powerful, as simple, and as direct as I feel them.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

26. “I thanked them all for the ongoing—emphasize ongoing—efforts to find my father.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

27. “...homeless people in general—are dangerous. They're desperate or crazy or both.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

28. “I like Curtis Talcott a lot. Maybe I love him... But if all I had to look forward to was marriage to him and babies and poverty that just keeps getting worse...”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

29. “Mars is a rock—cold, empty, almost airless, dead. Yet it's heaven in a way.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

30. “Freedom is dangerous but it's precious, too.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Parable Of The Sower’.

Octavia E. Butler won the Nebula Award For Best Novel for this work. It contains an especially moving quote on human nature.

31. “I have wanted to love her and to believe that what happened between her and me wasn't her fault. I've wanted that. But instead, I've hated her, feared her, needed her.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler,'Parable Of The Talents'.

32. “We know more about survival than most people. The proof is that we have survived.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler,'Parable Of The Talents'.

33. “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 thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

34. “Kindness eases change

Love quiets fear”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

35. “In order to rise

From its own ashes

A phoenix

First

Must

Burn.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

36. “How much of this nonsense does he believe, I wonder, and how much does he say just because he knows the value of dividing in order to conquer and to rule?”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

37. “Change is the one unavoidable, irresistible, ongoing reality of the universe.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

38. “To survive,

know the past.

Let it touch you.

Then let

The past

Go.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

39. “We’re sliding into undirected negative change, and what’s worse, we’re getting used to it.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

40. “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.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable Of The Talents'.

One has to read 'Kindred' Octavia Butler quotes to love her writing. Memorable quotes from 'Kindred' by Octavia Butler, Dana, and Kevin will be cherished by you forever. So, here are some 'Kindred' book quotes from the author's work that you need to know.

41. “The boy already knew more about revenge than I did. What kind of man was he going to grow up into?”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

42. “‘Don’t argue with white folks,’ [Luke] had said. ‘Don’t tell them ‘no.’ Don’t let them see you mad.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

43. “[The slaves] seemed to like [Rufus], hold him in contempt, and fear him all at the same time.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

44. “Repressive societies always seemed to understand the danger of ‘wrong’ ideas.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

45. “[Tom Weylin] wasn’t a monster at all. Just an ordinary man who sometimes did the monstrous things his society said were legal and proper.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

46. “‘Better to stay alive,’ I said. ‘At least while there's a chance to get free.’...”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

47. “She didn't kill, but she seemed to die a little.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

48. “Sometimes I wrote things because I couldn't say them... couldn't keep them bottled inside me.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

49. “I could recall walking along the narrow dirt road that ran past the Weylin house and seeing the house, shadowy in twilight, boxy and familiar...”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

50. “She means the devil with people who say you're anything but what you are.”

‒ Octavia E. Butler, ‘Kindred’.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Octavia Butler quotes then why not take a look at Harlan Ellison quotes, and Mary Shelley quotes.