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
patriotic differences humane
The difference between that which is humane and that which is patriotic is a vital difference.
rivals trouble loses
Deep, deep trouble. Can't rival the dead for love. Lose every time.
shallow believer
Shallow believers prefer a shallow God.
roots circles ancestor
Our ancestors are an ever widening circle of hope.
falling-in-love fall rose
I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.
ties long use
If a Negro got legs he ought to use them. Sit down too long, somebody will figure out a way to tie them up.
couple writing thinking
I think being an editor really helped me take other people's notes on my writing. I'd get a note like 'It's too wet' or 'The first couple chapters are good, but then the rest of the pages were so wet that they were completely illegible' or 'Did you dip this in Sprite? This smells like Sprite. Why would you dip your novel in Sprite?' And instead of pushing back, I'd listen. That's an incredibly important skill for a young writer to have.
bully ignorant racist
Unpersecuted, unjailed, unharrassed writers are trouble for the ignorant bully, the sly racist, and the predators feeding off the world's resources.
cities numbers giving
Beginning Beloved with numerals rather than spelled out numbers, it was my intention to give the house an identity separate from the street or even the city.
obliged
You free. Nothing and nobody is obliged to save you but you.
humans human-relations human-relationships
Perhaps that's what all human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?
witty children writing
The habit of getting up early, which I had formed when the children were young, now became my choice. I am not very bright or very witty or very inventive after the sun goes down.
quilts reality cells
Each member of the family in his own cell of consciousness, each making his own patchwork quilt of reality - collecting fragments of experience here, pieces of information there. From the tiny impressions gleaned from one another, they created a sense of belonging and tried to make do with the way they found each other.
spring eye pits
Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants and peach pits and death and where the world went when I closed my eyes.