You are your own stories and therefore free to imagine and experience what it means to be human... And although you don't have complete control over the narrative - no author does, I can tell you - you could nevertheless create it. Toni Morrison More Quotes by Toni Morrison More Quotes From Toni Morrison The children - I call them children when they're under 18 - are hungry for that love. The drugs are just a sleep that you can't even wake up from, because you might remember what you did when you were there. There's no place for them - there should be a rehabilitation center on every corner, along with McDonald's and the banks. This is serious business. The waiting lists are incredible. I mean, it's terrible. It's really terrible. Toni Morrison sleepmeanchildren I think being an editor really helped me take other people's notes on my writing. I'd get a note like 'It's too wet' or 'The first couple chapters are good, but then the rest of the pages were so wet that they were completely illegible' or 'Did you dip this in Sprite? This smells like Sprite. Why would you dip your novel in Sprite?' And instead of pushing back, I'd listen. That's an incredibly important skill for a young writer to have. Toni Morrison couplewritingthinking This word "LOVE" - discredited, "clicheed" - can be restored and love, the instinct, the impulse to care for somebody in the hope that somebody will care for you - plus our language, the language, a language - is about all we have. With everything else going on, this is what makes us, what keeps us human. Toni Morrison careand-lovelanguage I guess I'm depressed. I don't know. I can't explain it. Part of it is the irritability of being 84, and part of it is being not as physically strong as I once was. And part of it is my misunderstanding, I think, of what's going on in the world. Toni Morrison strongworldthinking I am in the position of judging people by the best they've ever done rather than the worst. Toni Morrison judging-peopleworstdone If you can't count, they can cheat you. If you can't read, they can beat you. Toni Morrison cheatbeatslearning The difference between that which is humane and that which is patriotic is a vital difference. Toni Morrison humanepatrioticdifferences The formula for creative writing in high school or college is write what you know. And I said they don't know nothing. Imagine something. Do you know what it's like to be a Madame in Paris, when you're too old to have any clients. No, you don't. I don't either. Write about it. Toni Morrison collegewritingschool How come it can’t fly no better than a chicken?’ Milkman asked. Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly with all that [stuff]. Wanna fly, you got to give up the [stuff] that weighs you down.’ The peacock jumped onto the hood of the Buick and once more spread its tail, sending the flashy Buick into oblivion. Toni Morrison vanitygiving-uptails Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake? Toni Morrison snakeslionsgames 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 subwaycharacterthinking My world did not shrink because I was a black female writer. It just got bigger. Toni Morrison female-writersblackhistory Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created. Toni Morrison creatingnarrativerevolutionary Here I am not the one to throw out. No one steals my warmth and shoes because I am small. No one handles my backside. No one whinnies like sheep or goat because I drop in fear and weakness. No one screams at the sight of me. No one watches my body for how it is unseemly. With you my body is pleasure is safe is belonging. I can never not have you have me. Toni Morrison sighthere-i-amsheep What I'm doing ain't about hating White people. It's about loving us. Toni Morrison hatewhitepeople I don't believe any real artists have ever been non-political. They may have been insensitive to this particular plight or insensitive to that, but they were political, because that's what an artist is-a politician. Toni Morrison artistrealbelieve The body is ready to have babies. Nature wants it done then, when the body can handle it, not after 40, when the income can handle it. Toni Morrison incomedonebaby As a writer reading, I came to realize the obvious: the subject of the dream is the dreamer. Toni Morrison readingdreambook Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation. Toni Morrison languagemeditationnames Our ancestors are an ever widening circle of hope. Toni Morrison ancestorcirclesroots
