Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series (Patternist, #1-4)

by Octavia E. Butler

What was common in one place could be ridiculous in another and abomination in a third. Ignorance could be costly.

Habits were difficult to break. The habit of living, the habit of fear … even the habit of love.

“Christians consider it a great sin to take one’s own life,” he said. “They consider it a sin to take any life, yet they kill and kill.”

“Everything truly alive dies sooner or later.”

He showed me his fantastic library first, and that helped me warm to him a little. A guy with a room like that in his house couldn’t be all bad.

Could a creature who had to look upon ordinary people literally as food and shelter ever understand how strongly those people valued life?