I would solve a lot of literary problems just thinking about a character in the subway, where you can't do anything anyway. Toni Morrison More Quotes by Toni Morrison More Quotes From Toni Morrison True the Black woman did the housework, the drudgery; true, she reared the children, often alone, but she did all of that while occupying a place on the job market, a place her mate could not get or which his pride would not let him accept.And she had nothing to fall back on: not maleness, not whiteness, not ladyhood, not anything. And out of the profound desolation of her reality she may very well have invented herself. Toni Morrison jobs children fall What I think the political correctness debate is really about is the power to be able to define. The definers want the power to name. And the defined are now taking that power away from them. Toni Morrison power names thinking There is really nothing more to say - except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how. Toni Morrison refuge beloved difficult I tell my students there is such a thing as 'writer's block,' and they should respect it. You shouldn't write through it. It's blocked because it ought to be blocked, because you haven't got it right now. Toni Morrison block students writing Perhaps that's what all human relationships boiled down to: Toni Morrison human-relationships human-relations humans As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think. Toni Morrison dream inspirational thinking Passion is never enough; neither is skill. Toni Morrison passion skills enough I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands. Toni Morrison responsibility bird hands There's a difference between writing for a living and writing for life. If you write for a living, you make enormous compromises.... If you write for life, you'll work hard; you'll do what's honest, not what pays Toni Morrison differences hard-work writing 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. Toni Morrison diversity ties peace A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick. Toni Morrison lipstick nightmare dream Love it, love it and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet. More than lungs that have yet to draw free air. More than your life-holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize. Toni Morrison eye love-you heart And talking about dark! You think dark is just one color, but it ain't. There're five or six kinds of black. Some silky, some woolly. Some just empty. Some like fingers. And it don't stay still, it moves and changes from one kind of black to another. Saying something is pitch black is like saying something is green. What kind of green? Green like my bottles? Green like a grasshopper? Green like a cucumber, lettuce, or green like the sky is just before it breaks loose to storm? Well, night black is the same way. May as well be a rainbow. Toni Morrison dark night moving 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. No record of it needs to be kept and you don't need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens — that letting go — you let go because you can. Toni Morrison letting-go beautiful needs The writing is - I'm free of pain. It's the place where I live; it's where I have control; it's where nobody tells me what to do; it's where my imagination is fecund and I am really at my best. Nothing matters more in the world or in my body or anywhere when I'm writing. Toni Morrison pain imagination writing All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Toni Morrison nature memories reality A friend gathers all the pieces and gives them back in the right order. Toni Morrison pieces giving order Sexist language, racist language, theistic language - all are typical of the policing languages of mastery, and cannot, do not, permit new knowledge or encourage the mutual exchange of ideas. Toni Morrison typical racism ideas In Ohio seasons are theatrical. Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it. Toni Morrison ohio people world Access to knowledge is the superb, the supreme act of truly great civilizations. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission. No committee decides who may enter, no crisis of body or spirit must accompany the entrant. No tuition is charged, no oath sworn, no visa demanded. Of the monuments humans build for themselves, very few say - touch me, use me, my hush is not indifference, my space is not barrier. If I inspire awe, it is because I am in awe of you and the possibilities that dwell in you. Toni Morrison space inspire civilization
