Science fiction frees you to go anyplace and examine anything. Octavia E. Butler More Quotes by Octavia E. Butler More Quotes From Octavia E. Butler If vampires were a separate species, and they were into genetic engineering, what would they engineer for? Octavia E. Butler genetic-engineeringwereengineering Not everyone has been a bully or the victim of bullies, but everyone has seen bullying, and seeing it, has responded to it by joining in or objecting, by laughing or keeping silent, by feeling disgusted or feeling interested. Octavia E. Butler everyonefeelingsilentbullying 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. Octavia E. Butler otherssayseethink When I was 7 and went to the zoo with my second-grade class, I saw chimpanzee eyes for the first time - the eyes of an unhappy animal, all alone, locked in a bare, concrete-floored, iron-barred cage in one of the nastier, old-fashioned zoos. I remember looking at the chimp, then looking away. Octavia E. Butler aloneeyestimeanimal 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. Octavia E. Butler bullyingracismsimpleworld How dull it is to have people defining you. Octavia E. Butler howyoudullpeople The big talent is persistence. Octavia E. Butler bigpersistencetalent And I have this little litany of things they can do. And the first one, of course, is to write - every day, no excuses. It's so easy to make excuses. Even professional writers have days when they'd rather clean the toilet than do the writing. Octavia E. Butler every-daydayeasywriting Religion kept some of my relatives alive, because it was all they had. If they hadn't had some hope of heaven, some companionship in Jesus, they probably would have committed suicide, their lives were so hellish. Octavia E. Butler suicidehopeheavenreligion Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never completed, and, if we're as intelligent as we like to think we are, never abandoned. Octavia E. Butler thinkprogressworkpeace Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to reexamine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow. Octavia E. Butler meresearchattitudepeople Well, writing was what I wanted to do, it was always what I wanted to do. I had novels to write so I wrote them. Octavia E. Butler wellwritealwayswriting 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. Octavia E. Butler dayyouworkpeople I don't write about good and evil with this enormous dichotomy. I write about people. I write about people doing the kinds of things that people do. Octavia E. Butler goodgood-and-evilevilpeople
