QuoteProject
I pecked my stories out two-fingered on the Remington portable typewriter my mother had bought me. I had begged for it when I was ten.
Octavia E. Butler
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the deep personal significance of writing and the value of early encouragement and support.

In this quote, Octavia E. Butler reminisces about the beginnings of her writing journey, highlighting the importance of her first typewriter, a gift from her mother. This moment illustrates how early support and encouragement can shape a person's passion and career, emphasizing the significance of nurturing creativity in children.

Themes

WritingTypewriterCreativityInspirationSupport

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about pursuing your dreams, you could share this quote to highlight the value of early passions.

More from Octavia E. Butler

Delusional pain hurts just as much as pain from actual trauma. So what if it's all in your head?
Octavia E. ButlerRead
I don't write about good and evil with this enormous dichotomy. I write about people. I write about people doing the kinds of things that people do.
Octavia E. ButlerRead
My characters hope for better lives.
Octavia E. ButlerRead
When I was 7 and went to the zoo with my second-grade class, I saw chimpanzee eyes for the first time - the eyes of an unhappy animal, all alone, locked in a bare, concrete-floored, iron-barred cage in one of the nastier, old-fashioned zoos. I remember looking at the chimp, then looking away.
Octavia E. ButlerRead
The lovely thing about writing is, well, two things. One, writing fiction allows us to bring an order to our lives that doesn't exist in real life. And two, it allows us to create human characters that we know better than we will ever know anyone in real life.
Octavia E. ButlerRead
In countries where there are no racial differences or no religious differences, people find other reasons to set aside one certain group of people and generally spit in their direction.
Octavia E. ButlerRead

Similar quotes

My education was paid for by the RAF Benevolent Fund, so a charity school, run like an orphanage, with uniforms and beatings. It was tough, but it got me to Cambridge - like being a chrysalis suddenly becoming a butterfly.
Eric IdleRead
I believe a child going without an education is tantamount to a crime. So I decided I was going to start prosecuting parents for truancy.
Kamala HarrisRead
When the average child is now spending nearly eight hours a day in front of some kind of screen, many of their opinions and preferences are being shaped by the marketing campaigns you all create. And that’s where the problem comes in.. ... And I’m here today with one simple request - and that is to do even more and move even faster to market responsibly to our kids.
Michelle ObamaRead
Most of these students are so conditioned to success that they become afraid to take risks. They have been taught from a young age by zealous parents, schools, and institutional authorities what constitutes failure and success. They are socialized to obey. They obsess over grades and seek to please professors, even if what professors teach is fatuous. The point is to get ahead, and getting ahead means deference to authority. Challenging authority is never a career advancer.
Chris HedgesRead
Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.
P. D. JamesRead
Don't dumb down; always write for your top five percent of readers.
Martin AmisRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Octavia E. Butler | QuoteProject