“Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals.”

— Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower (1993)

About Octavia E. Butler

1947 – 2006

American science fiction author known for 'Parable of the Sower' and 'Kindred', and the Earthseed philosophy at the centre of her novels.

“All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is Change.”

“I realize I don’t know very much. None of us knows very much. But we can all learn more. Then we can teach one another.”

“Freedom is dangerous, Cory, but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it away or let it slip away.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”