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. - 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
If you work hard enough at something that doesn’t matter, you can forget for a while about the things that do. - Octavia E. Butler
I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell. - 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 time, harder to teach them, harder to win back their trust. Best to begin by teaching. - Octavia E. Butler
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. - Octavia E. Butler
BewareAt war Or at peace,More people die Of unenlightened self-interestThan of any other disease - 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 cancer. - Octavia E. Butler
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. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence. - 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
All that you touch, you change. All that you change,changes you. - Octavia E. Butler
Power came the way a child came -- with agony. - Octavia E. Butler
There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns. - Octavia E. Butler
All that you touchYou Change.All that you ChangeChanges you.The only lasting truthis Change.Godis Change. - Octavia E. Butler
In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn. - Octavia E. Butler