Octavia E. Butler

“So fantasy was fine early on, and when I discovered science fiction, I was very happy with it, because my first interest in science fiction came with an interest in astronomy.”

“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.”

“My characters hope for better lives.”

“Prayers only help the person doing the praying, and then, only if they strengthen and focus that person's resolve.”

“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.”

“In countries where there are no racial differences or no religious differences, people find other reasons to set aside one certain group of people and generally spit in their direction.”

“Science fiction is not formulaic.”

“Simple peck-order bullying is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world.”

“Science fiction let me do both. It let me look into science and stick my nose in everywhere.”

“Everything is so soft here,' he said, 'so easy...' 'I know”

“When I began to do a little public speaking, one of the questions I heard most often was, "What good is science fiction to Black people?" I was usually asked this by a Black person...What good is science fiction's thinking about the present, the future, and the past? What good is its tendency to warn or to consider alternative ways of thinking and doing? What good is its examination of the possible effects of science and technology, or social organization and political direction? At its best, science fiction stimulates imagination and creativity. It gets reader and writer off the beaten track, off the narrow, narrow footpath of what "everyone" is saying, doing, thinking -- whoever "everyone" happens to be this year.And what good is all this to Black people?”

“Getting your writing criticized can be a lot like getting skinned, and you respond to it just as enthusiastically.”

“The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.”

“And by the way, I wanted to point out that Kindred is not science fiction. You'll note there's no science in it. It's a kind of grim fantasy.”

“Writing has been as difficult for me as for people who don't like to write and as little fun.”

“I think people really need to think what it's like to have all of society arrayed against you.”

“Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see.”

“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.”

“Bloodchild" is my pregnant man story.”

“The essentials," I answered, "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.”