Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)

by Octavia E. Butler

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.

Secretaries of Astronautics don’t have to know much about science. They have to know about politics.

After all, politicians have been promising to return us to the glory, wealth, and order of the twentieth century ever since I can remember. That’s what the space program is about these days, at least for politicians. Hey, we can run a space station, a station on the moon, and soon, a colony on Mars. That proves we’re still a great, forward-looking, powerful nation, right?

God exists to be shaped.

INTELLIGENCE IS ONGOING, INDIVIDUAL adaptability.

All I do is observe and take notes, trying to put things down in ways that are as powerful, as simple, and as direct as I feel them.

All that you touch, You Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change.

A tree Cannot grow In its parents’ shadows.

Embrace diversity. Unite— Or be divided, robbed, ruled, killed By those who see you as prey. Embrace diversity Or be destroyed.