Imago (Xenogenesis, #3)

by Octavia E. Butler

“You want to be what you are. That’s healthy and right for you. What we do about it is our decision, our responsibility. Not yours.”

“They own themselves. They don’t belong to you.”

Wise words spoken to Jodahs about the way Oankali felt "ownership" of humans and did not give them true free will, as if they were animals and not sapient beings.