162 Quotes by Octavia Butler

Third, for people who aren’t doing it already, take classes – they’re worthwhile. Workshops or classes – a workshop is where you do actually get feedback on your work, not just something where you go and sit for a day.

No, I think the future of humanity will be like the past, we’ll do what we’ve always done and there will still be human beings. Granted, there will always be people doing something different and there are a lot of possibilities.

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.

I would never have been a good scientist – my attention span was too short for that.

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.

Once you grow past Mommy and Daddy coming running when you’re hurt, you’re really on your own. You’re alone, and there’s no one to help you.

Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation.

I have a huge and savage conscience that won’t let me get away with things.

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.