Toni Morrison Quotes

American - Novelist Born: February 18, 1931

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.

Friendship, Friend, Good, Woman, Man, Me

When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same.

Pain, Words, No Words, Same

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it. - Toni Morrison

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

Ride, You, Air, Could

Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Yourself, Self, Ownership, One Thing

Women's rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also a personal affair. It is not only about us; it is also about me and you. Just the two of us.

Women, Me, Equality, You, Personal, Only

Make a difference about something other than yourselves.

Make A Difference, Difference, Something

We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.

Life, Die, Language, Meaning, Measure

I get angry about things, then go on and work.

Work, Angry, Anger, Get, Things, Go

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.

You, Book, Want, Been, Must, Write

I always looked upon the acts of racist exclusion, or insult, as pitiable, from the other person. I never absorbed that. I always thought that there was something deficient about such people.

People, Thought, Person, Insult, Never

At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.

Life, Beauty, You, World, Remember, Need

Somebody has to take responsibility for being a leader.

Leader, Responsibility, Being, Take

I'm always annoyed about why black people have to bear the brunt of everybody else's contempt. If we are not totally understanding and smiling, suddenly we're demons.

Black, People, Smiling, Understanding

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.

Power, Self, Strange, Ability, Test

As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.

Trust, Power, Think, You, Dream, Little

There is really nothing more to say-except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.

Difficult, Nothing, More, Why, Handle

Everybody gets everything handed to them. The rich inherit it. I don't mean just inheritance of money. I mean what people take for granted among the middle and upper classes, which is nepotism, the old-boy network.

Money, People, Rich, Take For Granted

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.

First, Because, Novel, Wanted, Read

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.

Moment, Black, You, White, Find, Out

Black people have always been used as a buffer in this country between powers to prevent class war.

War, Black, People, Class, Country, Used

If you're going to hold someone down you're going to have to hold on by the other end of the chain. You are confined by your own repression.

You, Down, End, Someone, Your, Own

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. - Toni Morrison

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

Nature, Water, Memory, Perfect, Back

In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.

White, Country, American, Everybody

Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.

Art, Black, Serious, Tolerance, Form

I merged those two words, black and feminist, because I was surrounded by black women who were very tough and and who always assumed they had to work and rear children and manage homes.

Work, Women, Children, Black, Words, Two

Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.

Love, Love Is, Thin

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