Earthseed: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents

by Octavia E. Butler

Is it a sin against God to be poor?

Maybe God is a kind of big kid, playing with his toys. If he is, what difference does it make if 700 people get killed in a hurricane—or if seven kids go to church and get dipped in a big tank of expensive water?

“The police,” my father told them, “may be able to avenge you, but they can’t protect you. Things are getting worse.

A dumb little game of “If we don’t talk about bad things, maybe they won’t happen.” Idiot!

how in the world can anyone get married and make babies with things the way they are now?

“So … you faked everyone out. You must be a hell of an actor.” “I had to learn to pretend to be normal.

We are born Not with purpose, But with potential.

We’re sliding into undirected negative change, and what’s worse, we’re getting used to it.

He said the world was going to hell just as fast as it could, and it would be an act of cruelty to bring a child into it.

Christian America is made up of scary people, and I find it impossible to believe that they intend only to do good and to help others.

And, of course, breaking people is much easier than putting them together again.

People do blame you for the things they do to you.