“ Religion is everywhere. There are no human societies without it, whether they acknowledge it as a religion or not. Octavia E. Butler
“ People have the right to call themselves whatever they like. That doesn't bother me. It's other people doing the calling that bothers me. Octavia E. Butler
“ I think we need people with stronger ideals than John Kerry or Bill Clinton. I think we need people with more courage and vision. Octavia E. Butler
“ It's better to teach people than to scare them, Lauren. If you scare them and nothing happens, they lose their fear, and you lose some of your authority with them. It's harder to scare them a second t… Octavia E. Butler
“ Prayers only help the person doing the praying, and then, only if they strengthen and focus that person's resolve. Octavia E. Butler
“ My brother Keith begged to go with us as usual. He'll turn thirteen in a few days - August 14 - and the thought of waiting two more years until he's 15 must seem impossible to him. I understand. Waiti… Octavia E. Butler
“ When I began to do a little public speaking, one of the questions I heard most often was, "What good is science fiction to Black people?" I was usually asked this by a Black person...What good is scie… Octavia E. Butler
“ BewareAt war Or at peace,More people die Of unenlightened self-interestThan of any other disease Octavia E. Butler
“ I wasn't trying to work out my own ancestry. I was trying to get people to feel slavery. I was trying to get across the kind of emotional and psychological stones that slavery threw at people. Octavia E. Butler
“ You are hierarchical. That's the older and more entrenched characteristic. We saw it in your closest animal relatives and in your most distant ones. It's a terrestrial characteristic. When human intel… Octavia E. Butler
“ My relative examined you, observed a few of your normal body cells, compared them with what it had learned from other humans most like you, and said that you had not only a cancer, but a talent for ca… 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
