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

by Octavia E. Butler

Anyanwu stared at him in silence for a moment. “Shall I be glad that your slaves will not be wasted?” she asked. “Or shall I fear the uses you will find for them?”

Civilization is the way one’s own people live. Savagery is the way foreigners live.”

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

Among my people, children are wealth, they are better than money, better than anything. But to these men, warped and twisted by their masters, children are almost nothing.

“White women must be protected,” Doro said, “whether they want to be or not.” “As property is protected.” Anyanwu shook her head. “Preserved for the use of owners alone.