# Parable of the Sower - Author: [Octavia E. Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler.md) - Quotes: 23 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower ## Quotes > The Destiny of Earthseed > > Is to take root among the stars. p. 84 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/the-destiny-of-earthseed.md) > All that you touch > > You Change. > > All that you Change > > Changes you. > > The only lasting truth > > Is Change. > > God > > Is Change. p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/all-that-you.md) > Freedom is dangerous, Cory, but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it away or let it slip away. You can’t sell it for bread and pottage. p. 122 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/freedom-is-dangerous.md) > I wonder what a badge is, other than a license to steal. p. 316 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/i-wonder-what.md) > People have changed the climate of the world. Now they’re waiting for the old days to come back’ p. 57 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/people-have-changed.md) > It’s better to teach people than to scare them, Lauren. If you scare them and nothing happens, they lose their fear, and you lose some of your authority with them. p. 65 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/its-better-to-teach.md) > If everyone could feel everyone else’s pain, who would torture? p. 115 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/if-everyone-could.md) > A tree > > Cannot grow > > In its parents’ shadows. p. 82 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/a-tree-cannot.md) > Intelligence is ongoing, individual adaptability. Adaptations that an intelligent species may make in a single generation, other species make over many generations of selective breeding and selective dying. Yet intelligence is demanding. If it is misdirected by accident or by intent, it can foster its own orgies of breeding and dying. p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/intelligence-is-ongoing.md) > All struggles > > Are essentially > > Power struggles. > > Who will rule, > > Who will lead, > > Who will define, > > refine, > > confine, > > design, > > Who will dominate. > > All struggles > > Are essentially > > Power struggles, > > And most > > are no more intellectual > > than two rams > > knocking their heads together. p. 94 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/all-struggles-are.md) > 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. We can stop denying reality or hoping it will go away by magic. p. 58 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/i-realize-i-dont.md) > You tend to resent people you’re afraid of. p. 291 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/you-tend-to-resent.md) > A lot of people seem to believe in a big-daddy-God or a big-cop-God or a big-king-God. They believe in a kind of superperson. A few believe God is another word for nature. And nature turns out to mean just about anything they happen not to understand or feel in control of. p. 15 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/a-lot-of-people.md) > “From what I’ve read,” I said to him, “the world goes crazy every three or four decades. The trick is to survive until it goes sane again.” p. 229 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/from-what-ive.md) > A victim of God may, > > Through learning adaption, > > Become a partner of God, > > A victim of God may, > > Through forethought and planning, > > Become a shaper of God. > > Or a victim of God may, > > Through shortsightedness and fear, > > Remain God’s victim, > > God’s plaything, > > God’s prey. p. 31 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/a-victim-of-god.md) > The only way to prove to yourself that you have power is to use it p. 143 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/the-only-way.md) > People here in the neighborhood are saying she had no business going to Mars, anyway. All that money wasted on another crazy space trip when so many people here on earth can’t afford water, food, or shelter p. 17 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/people-here-in-the.md) > Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation. p. 101 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/civilization-is-to-groups.md) > “Your God doesn’t care about you at all,” Travis said. > > “All the more reason to care about myself and others.” p. 221 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/your-god-doesnt.md) > Dad decided not to vote for Donner after all. He didn’t vote for anyone. He said politicians turned his stomach. p. 27 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/dad-decided-not.md) > Sometimes I write to keep from going crazy. There’s a world of things I don’t feel free to talk to anyone about. p. 52 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/sometimes-i-write.md) > “When it comes to strangers with guns,” I told her, “I think suspicion is more likely to keep you alive than trust.” p. 122 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/when-it-comes.md) > There’s no narcotic like exhaustion. p. 200 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/theres-no-narcotic.md)