Octavia E. Butler Quotes

The swan who goes on living in its parents' tree will die; this is why those who are beautiful and talented bear the burden of finding their own way in the world.

When we are kids, we imagine that to define ourselves or to find ourselves means charting your own individuality, making your own destiny, and actually running away from your parents and your home and what you grew up with. Of course, as the years go on, we come to find that we become our parents.

I come from an acting family, my father was an actor, and I had to fight my way and just create my own identity.

For the moment, I'm concentrating on my own stuff.

I know who I am by now. And I am my own brand.

Naturally, I do things my own way but I'm certainly influenced by my mother's way of doing things.

Yes, I'm very close to my family. And being that close to your family, I think you also struggle with how to become your own person.

I don't know that you can put a label on growth. I'm just me.

I've been able to define who I am and my brother is able to do his thing.

Phil is my father. He's a part of who I am. But I don't want to be defined by that.

The gratifying part of my journey is no one calls me a star child or a superstar's wife anymore. I think I have grown beyond that and have my own identity.

People often ask me when I realised that I was different. Some people seem surprised that it's a question that I cannot answer. I was never told that I was different. I was always just Sinead; I was just like my dad.

Just, always remember that it's important to be your own person, and as you grow up, you start appreciating the things that make you different.

I've always wanted to be my own person. Even when I was 'Noah who rode horses,' I wanted to be Noah Cyrus, not anyone else or a family member.

I love being my mother's daughter, and it's something I always will be, but now I get to be just Billie.

One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself. and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.

We've got minds and souls as well as hearts; ambition and talents as well as beauty and accomplishments; and we want to live and learn as well as love and be loved. I'm sick of being told that is all a woman is fit for! I won't have anything to do with love until I prove that I am something beside a housekeeper and a baby-tender!

You can come from a family of actors, and sometimes there have been families that grow you up as an actor, but this wasn't my situation. It's very important to find your own way because it's something you then have to confront yourself. You're not going to be asking your parents.

Be the person you are. Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the responsibility of being oneself, whatsoever the cost.

Children need parents who will let them grow up to be themselves, but parents often have personal agendas they try to impose on their children.

You say we'll soar like two birds through the clouds, but soon you'll cage me on your shelf. I'll never learn to be just me, first by myself.

Being happy is not all about love! Love is not everything. Work, friends, and achieving things... your finite thing in life can't be getting married and having children. Like, creating a life for myself that's my own, and my own road? That was always the most important thing for me. Right now, I have a kid and stuff, and it's fantastic to be a mother, but it's not the final thing. You want to stay an individual. You need to stay an individual for your kid, as an example of what a human being should be! You want to stay true to yourself and not become a half a person. That is so, so important.

Have your own life before you become somebody's wife.

I think people kind of come in who they are, and it sort of doesn't even matter who their parents are - it can affect you a little bit, and you can be guided and shaped.

I think we all do our own thing and we all have our own talents, but it's good to know that you have a family tree of success so if you need the help on your journey to success then you can look around and see it around you.