Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrisonis an American novelist, editor, and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth18 February 1931
CityLorain, OH
CountryUnited States of America
white everything-happens-for-a-reason profound
No one ever talks about the moment you found that you were white. Or the moment you found out you were black. That's a profound revelation. The minute you find that out, something happens. You have to renegotiate everything.
friendship real-friends men
She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.
definitions beloved defined
Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.
children littles next
Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one.
Don’t beg anybody for anything, especially love.
love responsibility revolutionary
The function of freedom is to free someone else.
giving-up want getting-things-done
If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.
race racism social
There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race -- scientifically, anthropologically. Racism is a construct, a social construct... it has a social function, racism.
artist silent dread
In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.
black limits violence
Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.
art years racism
The function, the very serious function of racism, is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language, so you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn't shaped properly, so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Someone says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary. There will always be one more thing.
dream nightmare lipstick
A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick.
book written
If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it.
book written
If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it