"My ignorance wasn’t just annoying. It was dangerous."

Octavia Butler Literature See all quotes by Octavia Butler →

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“I’m literate, and the idea of leaving children illiterate is criminal.”

“Jarrett would be easier to take if he cared half as much about children’s bodies and minds as he pretends to care about their souls.”

““It’s a crucifix,” Wright told me when I showed it to him. “It must have been worn by one of the people who lived here. Or maybe the arsonist lost it.” He gave a humorless smile. “You never know who’s liable to turn out to be religious.”

“Helpless lust and unreasoning anxiety were just part of growing up.”

“Who knows what we humans have that others might be willing to take in trade for a livable space on a world not our own.”

“I might not have believed this if a Human had said it. Humans said one thing with their bodies and another with their mouths and everybody had to spend time and energy figuring out what they really meant.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Colonists did not, at this point, claim any privileges under the law of Great Britain. They were breaking from the law of Great Britain. They were appealing instead to the laws of nature and of nature…"

— Harry V. Jaffa

Philosophy1918–2015

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"They based their extrapolations on numbers. That worked as long as money, which is easily measured numerically, was the principle motivating force in human affairs. But as time progressed, human actio…"

— Gene Wolfe

Literature1931–2019

#justice

"Negroes in the United States read the history of labor and find it mirrors their own experience. We are confronted by powerful forces telling us to rely on the goodwill and understanding of those who …"

— Martin Luther King

Social Activism1929–1968

#justice