We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.
TONI MORRISONA writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.
More Toni Morrison Quotes
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A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.
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You have to be a little tough, and rely on yourself. And tell people ‘No’.
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Perhaps that’s what all human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?
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Black people’s music is in a class by itself and always has been.
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A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick.
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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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I always know the ending; that’s where I start.
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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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You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.
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There is an incredible amount of magic and feistiness in black men that nobody has been able to wipe out. But everybody has tried.
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We mistook violence for passion, indolence for leisure, and thought recklessness was freedom.
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Writing is really a way of thinking–not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic or just sweet.
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A friend gathers all the pieces and gives them back in the right order.
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If you can only be tall because someone else is on their knees, then you have a serious problem. And white people have a very, very serious problem.
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Sometimes what I write on the page frightens me, so I feel free when I write, but I don’t feel safe.
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I type in one place, but I write all over the house.
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Being able to laugh got me through.
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Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives, because they were targets everywhere. They still are.
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You need a whole community to raise a child. I have raised two children, alone.
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Today is always here,’ said Sethe. ‘Tomorrow, never.
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There is no civilization that did not begin with art, Whether it was drawing a line in the sand, painting a cave or dancing.
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He wants to put his story next to hers.
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Black women have always been friends. I mean, if you didn’t have each other you had nothing.
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In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.
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Beloved, you are my sister, you are my daughter, you are my face; you are me.
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To get to a place where you could love anything you chose – not to need permission for desire – well now that was freedom.
TONI MORRISON