# Quote — Octavia E. Butler, Adulthood Rites

> “Yori, Human purpose isn’t what you say it is or what I say it is. It’s what your biology says it is—what your genes say it is.”

- Author: [Octavia E. Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler.md)
- Book: [Adulthood Rites](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites.md)
- Page: 501
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Adulthood_Rites_(1988)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites/yori-human-purpose

## More from this book

> He thought about that for a moment, wondered what he should say. The truth or nothing. The truth.

p. 501 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites/he-thought-about.md)

> “I didn’t want to scare you. We don’t want to scare anyone.”
>
> “No? Well, sometimes it’s a good thing to scare people. Sometimes fear is all that will keep them from doing stupid things.”

p. 381 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites/i-didnt-want.md)

> If you don’t care about my people, why should I care about yours?

p. 383 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites/if-you-dont.md)