Parable of the Sower Quotes

“God exists to be shaped. God is Change.” (Chapter 3)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: When Lauren decides what she believes in, she considers a universal feature of natural ecosystems and human societies: they all go through change. The book capitalizes “Change” throughout, indicating its importance as the force governing Earthseed. Lauren is empowered by the belief that change is a blank slate that “exists to be shaped” by humans, whose actions determine their destiny.

“The universe is Godseed. Only we are Earthseed.” (Chapter 7)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: The distinction between “Godseed” and “Earthseed” refers to humans’ original home on Earth. Like seeds, humans are organisms that can sustain and create life far from their place of origin. When Lauren thinks of humanity’s future, she imagines the potential beyond Earth, viewing the entire changing universe as “Godseed,” or part of God.

“The Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.” (Chapter 7)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: This quote reveals that Earthseed is a religion of hope and ambition. Earthseed’s destiny is also a response to massive climate change and deterioration of ecosystems on Earth. The stars have represented freedom and possibility to Lauren since she was a child, and in Earthseed they represent a potential new direction for humanity.

“When no influence is strong enough / To unify people / They divide.” (Chapter 10)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: This quote from Lauren’s Earthseed proverbs mirrors the conflict she sees in Robledo and beyond. It reflects the novel’s attention to social power dynamics—when people feel powerless, they turn to theft and violence, and they don’t trust each other. Earthseed is Octavia Butler’s way of urging people to cooperate for survival.

“The weak can overcome the strong if the weak persist.” (Chapter 12)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: When Lauren preaches this message to a Robledo congregation that’s shaken by loss, she doesn’t believe it herself. Though Robledo tries to defend itself for years, it finally crumbles under the stronger forces of outside attackers. But the quote indicates that persistence is crucial in troubled times, since the alternative is to surrender and die. Members of the first Earthseed community persist through great odds, and, unlike Robledo, their group survives.

“God is Trickster, Teacher, Chaos, Clay.” (Chapter 18)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: Here Lauren personifies God, or “Change,” as an unpredictable and often dangerous force that can help or harm. Her choice of the word “Trickster” suggests mischief and the unexpected, and “Chaos” indicates wild disorder. Change can surprise people and upend their lives, as Lauren experiences halfway through the novel. But change is also “Clay”—a malleable substance people can shape. And people can learn from change as a “Teacher” and adapt for survival.

“Your teachers / Are all around you… Learn or die.” (Chapter 23)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: Lauren helps others learn basic survival skills as she travels north. A mistake can mean injury or death. The quote’s urgent phrasing “Learn or die” applies in a broader sense to characters who refuse to adapt to a changing world, like many people Lauren left behind in Robledo.

“We are a harvest of survivors.” (Chapter 24)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: Lauren calls the group of travelers a “harvest,” using figurative language to evoke the biblical parable that inspired the novel’s title. In the parable, many seeds are planted, but only the seeds on good soil thrive and produce a harvest. Lauren hopes for a similar harvest of descendants in her Earthseed community, which becomes a refuge for survivors of social collapse.

“This country has slipped back two hundred years.” (Chapter 24)

– Taylor Franklin Bankole

Analysis: Butler believed social progress could go backward; human rights and civil liberties could be won and lost again. Bankole is referring specifically to enslavement of Black people in the United States, which was outlawed in the 19th century. In Butler’s imagined 21st century 200 years later, rich corporations trap their workers in a cycle of debt, making the workers’ situation resemble slavery.

“Trees are better than stone—life commemorating life.” (Chapter 25)

– Lauren Olamina

Analysis: Instead of using traditional gravestone markers to honor the Earthseed community’s dead loved ones, Lauren and her companions plant trees. This ritual works in harmony with Lauren’s belief that Earthseed is a faith for the living. Not only will the trees serve as monuments, they’ll provide shelter, oxygen and food for the survivors.