When your rage is choking you, it is best to say nothing.
Interpretation
It's wise to remain silent during moments of intense anger.
This quote by Octavia Butler suggests that in times of anger, when emotions are overwhelming, it is more prudent to refrain from speaking. Speaking in such moments can lead to regrettable words and actions, and silence can allow for clarity and composure before responding decisively.
In practice
During a heated discussion in a meeting, one might quote Butler to emphasize the importance of remaining calm and not saying something impulsively.
What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.
Here I was into astronomy, and here into anthropology, and there I go into geology. It was much more fun to be able to research and write about whatever I wanted to.
There is no end To what a living world Will demand of you.
You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.
We ought not to be embarrassed of appreciating the truth and of obtaining it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. Nothing should be dearer to the seeker of truth than the truth itself, and there is no deterioration of the truth, nor belittling either of one who speaks it or conveys it
Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are
Give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils.
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
I like feeling my way into different minds and experiences. It comes naturally and always has.
I promise you that I did not become an addict because of anything to do with the behavior of either of my parents. Everybody has to make their own choices.
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