“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.”

— 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.”

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

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

“Be attentive therefore, according to the instruction of the Gospel, to learn obedience from the lily and the bird.”

“I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right.”

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be.”

“Life consists in the alternate process of learning and unlearning; but it is often wiser to unlearn than to learn.”

“Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.”

“Philosophy, from the earliest times, has made greater claims, and achieved fewer results, than any other branch of learning.”