Toni Morrison Quotes

American - Novelist Born: February 18, 1931

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

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

Ride, You, Air, Could

Make a difference about something other than yourselves. Toni Morrison

Make A Difference, Difference, Something

Somebody has to take responsibility for being a leader. Toni Morrison

Leader, Responsibility, Take, Being

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. Toni Morrison

Women, Equality, Me, You, Personal, Two

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. Toni Morrison

People, Smiling, Black, Understanding

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. Toni Morrison

Book, You, Want, Write, Been, Read

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

Art, Black, Literature, Sociology, Form

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

American, Country, White, Everybody

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. Toni Morrison

People, Thought, Insult, Person, Never

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. Toni Morrison

Friendship, Friend, Good, Man, Woman, Me

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

Yourself, Self, Ownership, One Thing

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

Work, Anger, Angry, Go, Things, Then

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. Toni Morrison

Power, Self, Test, Strange, Ability

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. Toni Morrison

Nature, Water, Memory, Perfect, Trying

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

Pain, Words, Same, No Words

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. Toni Morrison

Moment, Black, You, Find, White, Minute

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

Love, Love Is, Thin

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

Power, Trust, Think, You, Dream, Little

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. Toni Morrison

Life, Beauty, World, Remember, Enough

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. Toni Morrison

Work, Children, Women, Words, Tough, Two

A lot of black people believe that Jews in this country have become white. They behave like white people rather than Jewish people. Toni Morrison

People, Black, Believe, Country, White

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

Life, Language, Die, Measure, Meaning

Black people are victims of an enormous amount of violence. None of those things can take place without the complicity of the people who run the schools and the city. Toni Morrison

People, City, Violence, Black, Place

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. Toni Morrison

Money, People, Rich, Take For Granted

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

Nothing, Why, Difficult, More, Handle

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison

Book, You, Want, Write, Then, Been

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