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Quotes About Control

When vision fails Direction is lost. When direction is lost Purpose may be forgotten. When purpose is forgotten Emotion rules alone. When emotion rules alone, Destruction…destruction.
~ Octavia E. Butler
You controlled both animals and people by controlling their reproduction—controlling it absolutely.
~ Octavia E. Butler
And the only way to prove to yourself you have power is to use it.
~ Octavia E. Butler
A leader Most will follow, Or a tyrant Most fear.
~ Octavia E. Butler
How could sane people like the ones he had left behind in Phoenix do such a thing—or, how could they let insane people gain control of devices that could do so much harm? If you knew a man was out of his mind, you restrained him. You didn't give him power.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Patrols. Groups of young whites who ostensibly maintained order among the slaves. Patrols. Forerunners of the Ku Klux Klan.
~ Octavia E. Butler
A lot of people seem to believe in a big-daddy-God or a big-cop-God or a big-king-God. They believe in a kind of super-person. A few believe God is another word for nature. And nature turns out to mean just about anything they happen not to understand or feel in control of.
~ Octavia E. Butler
But we can rig the game in our own favor if we understand that God exists to be shaped, and will be shaped, with or without our forethought, with or without our intent.
~ Octavia E. Butler
She seemed to be able to turn the accent on and off. She tended to turn it on for comforting people, and for threatening to kill them.
~ Octavia E. Butler
What does Jarett really think about the Crusaders? Does he control them? If he doesn't like what they're doing, he should make some effort to stop them. He shouldn't want them to make their insanity part of his political image. On the other hand, one way to make people afraid of you is to have a crazy side--a side of yourself or your organization that's dangerous and unpredictable--willing to do any damned thing.
~ Octavia E. Butler
struggles Are essentially power struggles. Who will rule, Who will lead, Who will define, refine, confine, design, Who will dominate. All struggles Are essentially power struggles, And most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads
~ Octavia E. Butler
They forced you to have kids?" the man asked. "One of them surprised me," she said. "It made me pregnant, then told me about it. Said it was giving me what I wanted but would never come out and ask for." "Was it?" "Yes." She shook her head from side to side. "Oh, yes. But if I had the strength not to ask, it should have had the strength to let me alone.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Haven't you seen the men slaves in this country who are used for breeding? They are never permitted to learn what it means to be a man. They are not permitted to care for their children.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Cities controlled by big companies are old hat in science fiction. My grandmother left a whole bookcase of old science fiction novels. The company-city subgenre always seemed to star a hero who outsmarted, overthrew, or escaped "the company." I've never seen one where the hero fought like hell to get taken in and underpaid by the company. In real life, that's the way it will be. That's the way it is.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Interesting that they fear Edward Jay Smith's supposed incompetence more than they fear Jarret's obvious tyranny.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Imparando e adattandosi una vittima di Dio può diventare un suo compagno. Con lungimiranza e pianificazione una vittima di Dio può diventare un suo plasmatore. Oppure, per ristrettezza mentale e paura può restare vittima di Dio, il suo giocattolo, la sua preda.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Cities controlled by big companies are old hat in science fiction. My grandmother left a whole bookcase of old science fiction novels. The company-city genre always seemed to star a hero who outsmarted, overthrew, or escaped "the company." I've never seen one where the hero fought like hell to get taken in and underpaid by the company. In real life, that's the way it will be. That's the way it is.
~ Octavia E. Butler
All struggles Are essentially power struggles.
~ Octavia E. Butler
People are setting fires to get rid of whomever they dislike from personal enemies to anyone who looks or sounds foreign or racially different. People are setting fires because they're frustrated, angry, hopeless. They have no power to improve their lives, but they have the power to make others even more miserable. And the only way to prove to yourself that you have power is to use it.
~ Octavia E. Butler
All struggles Are essentially power struggles. Who will rule, Who will lead, Who will define, refine, confine, design, Who will dominate. All struggles Are essentially power struggles, And most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together. EARTHSEED:
~ Octavia E. Butler
They forced you to have kids?" the man asked. "One of them surprised me," she said. "It made me pregnant, then told me about it. Said it was giving me what I wanted but would never come out and ask for." "Was it?" "Yes." She shook her head from side to side. "Oh, yes. But if I had the strength not to ask, it should have had the strength to let me alone.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Oh hell. If I could just find a balance between holding back too much and pushing, poaching.
~ Octavia E. Butler
Yet Andrew Steele Jarret was able to scare, divide, and bully people, first into electing him President, then into letting him fix the country for them. He didn't get to do everything he wanted to do. He was capable of much greater fascism. So were his most avid followers.
~ Octavia E. Butler
People are setting fires because they're frustrated, angry, hopeless. They have no power to improve their lives, but they have the power to make others even more miserable. And the only way to prove to yourself that you have power is to use
~ Octavia E. Butler