Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives, because they were targets everywhere. They still are.
TONI MORRISONPerhaps that’s what all human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?
More Toni Morrison Quotes
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Anger is better. There is a sense of being in anger. A reality and presence. An awareness of worth. It is a lovely surging.
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For me the history of the place of black people in this country is so varied, complex and beautiful. And impactful.
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Black people’s music is in a class by itself and always has been.
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At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough.
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For me the history of the place of black people in this country is so varied, complex and beautiful. And impactful.
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My theory is that the world is a difficult place to live in and distraction is the name of the game.
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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.
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He wants to put his story next to hers.
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A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick.
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The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power.
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You don’t have to love me but you damn well have to respect me.
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Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.
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There is really nothing more to say-except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.
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When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same.
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Freedom is choosing your responsibility. It’s not having no responsibilitie s; it’s choosing the ones you want.
TONI MORRISON






