I began to realize that this idea of the lighter the better and the darker the worse was really - had an impact on sororities, on friendships, on all sorts of things, and it was stunning to me. Toni Morrison More Quotes by Toni Morrison More Quotes From Toni Morrison Home is memory, home is your history, home is where you work. Some people want to abandon it and become truly local. But the questions are all there. Toni Morrison home memories people One of the monstrous things that slavery in this country caused was the breakup of families. I mean, physical labor, horrible; beatings, horrible; lynching death, all of that, horrible. But the living life of a parent who, A, has no control over what happens to your children, none. They don't belong to you. You may not even nurse them. They may be shipped off somewhere, as in "Beloved" the mother was, to be nursed by somebody who was not able to work in the fields and was a wet nurse. Toni Morrison breakup mother country I think one of the reasons I'm so thrilled with writing is because it is an act of reading for me at the same time, which is why my revisions are so sustained. Toni Morrison reading writing thinking I feel like today we always glorify the young, just-plucked-from-college writer. But it's much harder to start writing later, in middle age, struggling on a book around a full-time job and family. Toni Morrison struggle jobs book The seeds of destruction lie in the definition of "chosen-ness" and can easily blossom into bigotry. It's not inevitable but it needs constant care to avoid. Toni Morrison care lying needs What's interesting about writing is the invention, the creative thing. Writing about myself is a yawn. Toni Morrison creative writing interesting Womanists is what black feminists used to call themselves. Very much so. They were not the same thing. And also the relationship with men. Historically, black women have always sheltered their men because they were out there, and they were the ones that were most likely to be killed. Toni Morrison feminist black men When I went into the publishing industry, many women talked about the difficulty they had in persuading their families to let them go to college. They educated the boys, and the girls had to struggle. Toni Morrison girl struggle boys Intimacy is extremely important to me and I want it to be extremely important to the readers. Toni Morrison intimacy important want I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me. Toni Morrison She is a friend of my mind... The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. Toni Morrison All of my life is doing something for somebody else, whether I'm being a good daughter, a good mother, a good wife, a good lover, a good teacher -- and that's all that. The only thing I do for me is writing. That's really the real free place where I don't have to answer. Toni Morrison entertainment I know how to write forever. I don't think I could have happily stayed here in the world if I did not have a way of thinking about it, which is what writing is for me. It's control. Nobody tells me what to do. It's mine, it's free, and it's a way of thinking. It's pure knowledge. Toni Morrison entertainment The Bluest Eye, beauty was not simply something to behold ; it was something one could do. Toni Morrison entertainment I also wanted to use black folklore, the magic and superstitious part of it, black people believe in magic. Once a woman asked me, Do you believe in ghosts ? I said,' Yes. Do you believe in germs ?' It's part of our heritage. Toni Morrison entertainment 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 write you want book