“I’m literate, and the idea of leaving children illiterate is criminal.”

— Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents (1998)

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 me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”

“Distrust and caution are the parents of security.”

“The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a refuge from home life.”

“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents.”

“Hence vain deluding Joys, the brood of Folly without father bred!”

“In love of home, the love of country has its rise.”