top of page
"I talked to members of my family, and did some personal research that didn't really have anything to do with the time and place I was writing about, but that gave me a feeling of the experience of being black in a time and place where it was very difficult to be black."
Standard
Customized
Exlpore more Experience quotes

"It [discovering Finnish] was like discovering a wine-cellar filled with bottles of amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me."

"She picked up the stout and took a sip. It slid down her throat like silk."

"Not everyone can experience what other people can... That's why movies come out... films and books... and short stories and novels..."

"Our experiences are the building blocks of the future hewn out of the granite of the present."

"Life wants you to touch, taste and see the grandeur of the world's unfathomable variety."

"There is a huge difference between learning about truth and experiencing truth. Touch the source."

"It is not how long the music last but how much we enjoy."

"When the reality looks extraordinarily unreal, you must know that you are in an extraordinarily beautiful place!"

"All day long, one continues to suffer sweet or bitter fruits. This life has been attained for the purpose of experiencing!"
Explore more quotes by Octavia Butler

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

"But my problem with fantasy, and horror, and related genres, is that sometimes the problems are illogical."

"A workshop is a way of renting an audience, and making sure you're communicating what you think you're communicating. It's so easy as a young writer to think you're been very clear when in fact you haven't."

"No, I think the future of humanity will be like the past, we'll do what we've always done and there will still be human beings. Granted, there will always be people doing something different and there are a lot of possibilities."

"You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence."

"While Fledging is a different type of book, The Parable series serve as cautionary tales. I wrote the Parable books because of the direction of the country. You can call it save the world fiction, but it clearly doesn't save anything."

"Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over."

"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."
bottom of page