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'It was an old passion,' he said. 'I haven’t touched a violin for months. I didn’t know what that would be like.''What is it like?' she asked.He began to walk so that she almost missed his answer. 'An amputation,' he whispered.
Octavia E. Butler -
I don't write about good and evil with this enormous dichotomy. I write about people. I write about people doing the kinds of things that people do.
Octavia E. Butler
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Are you Earthseed? Do you believe? Belief will not save you. Only actions guided and shaped by belief and knowledge will save you. BeliefInitiates and guides action - or it does nothing.
Octavia E. Butler -
I used to give up writing like some people would give up smoking.
Octavia E. Butler -
...I can write my own stories and I can write myself in.
Octavia E. Butler -
Listen, no part of me is more definitive of who I am than my brain.
Octavia E. Butler -
She was too alert, too alive not to have the kind of mind that probed and reached and got her into trouble now and then.
Octavia E. Butler -
Rejections are painful, but inevitable. They're every writer's rite of passage.
Octavia E. Butler
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Beware:IgnoranceProtects itselfIgnorancePromotes suspicion.SuspicionEngenders fear.Fear quails,Irrational and blind,Or fear looms,Defiant and closed.Blind, closed,Suspicious, afraid,IgnoranceProtects itself,And protected,Ignorance grows.
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 -
'He’s a fair man.'I looked at him, startled.'I said fair,' he repeated. 'Not likable.'I kept quiet. His father wasn’t the monster he could have been with the power he held over his slaves. He 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 -
'I’ll tell you,' she said softly. 'But you won’t like it.'He looked away from her. 'I asked for the truth. Whether I like it or not, I have to know.'
Octavia E. Butler -
Be who you are and not who someone else thinks you ought to be.
Octavia E. Butler -
Life is getting better, but that won’t stop a war if politicians and business people decide it’s to their advantage to have one.
Octavia E. Butler
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All religions are ultimately cargo cults.Adherents perform required rituals, followspecific rules, and expect to be supernaturallygifted with desired rewards-long life,honor, wisdom, children, good health, wealth,victory over opponents, immortality afterdeath, any desired rewards.
Octavia E. Butler -
Most of us don't have to worry about being shot of we poke our noses outside. So we are comfortable, but the people I'm writing about are definitely not comfortable, and being shot while they're still inside is a good possibility.
Octavia E. Butler -
The only black people you found were occasional characters or characters who were so feeble-witted that they couldn't manage anything, anyway. I wrote myself in, since I'm me and I'm here and I'm writing.
Octavia E. Butler -
'What will they do when they have only the herbs' he asked her.'Live or die as best they can,' she said. 'Everything truly alive dies sooner or later.'
Octavia E. Butler -
When I meet a woman who attracts me, I prefer women,' she said. 'And when I meet a man who attracts me, I prefer men.' 'You mean you haven't made up your mind yet.' 'I mean exactly what I said. I told you you wouldn't like it. Most people who ask want me definitely on one side or the other.
Octavia E. Butler -
Short-lived people, people who could die, did not know what enemies loneliness and boredom could be.
Octavia E. Butler
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Beware At war Or at peace, More people die Of unenlightened self-interest Than of any other disease
Octavia E. Butler -
He thought about that for a moment, wondered what he should say. The truth or nothing. The truth.
Octavia E. Butler -
The essentials 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 -
We give our deadTo the orchardsAnd the groves.We give our deadTo life.
Octavia E. Butler