Parable of the Talents (Earthseed, #2)

by Octavia E. Butler

“We give our dead To the orchards And the groves. We give our dead To life.” I paused, took a deep breath, and continued in slow measured tones. “Death Is a great Change—

Is life’s greatest Change. We honor our beloved dead. As we mix their essence with the earth, We remember them, And within us, They live.”

Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.