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100 Powerful Toni Morrison Quotes

Famous As: Novelist
Born On: February 18, 1931
Died On: August 5, 2019
Born In: Lorain, Ohio
Died At Age: 88

Toni Morrison is an award-winning American novelist, editor and professor. She was born in a modest family and her interest in writing was cultivated by her parents. She attended the University of Howard to pursue her passion for literature. She started off her career as a professor of English at Howard for the next seven years. During this period she had befriended a group of writers inside the university and started writing her first novel with them. She then moved to New York to work as a senior editor at a renowned publishing house. Her debut novel ‘The Bluest Eye’ brought her modest success but her next book ‘Sula’ was a huge hit. It was well–accepted by the masses and was nominated for the ‘American Book Award’. She followed up with various books to enhance her reputation as a writer. Her books were very expressive in depicting black America. Her significant contributions to the literary world have been honored with various awards including the most renowned ‘Noble Prize’ and ‘Pulitzer Prize’. Go through these quotes and thoughts by the acclaimed writer which tends to hold a very deep meaning. Take a look at the famous collection of quotations and sayings by Toni Morrison that convey a powerful message on race, friendship, labels, love and life.

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

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

Toni Morrison
You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.

You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.

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

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

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

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

Toni Morrison
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.

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
She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.

She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.

Toni Morrison
Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.

Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.

Toni Morrison
And I am all the things I have ever loved: scuppernong wine, cool baptisms in silent water, dream books and number playing.

And I am all the things I have ever loved: scuppernong wine, cool baptisms in silent water, dream books and number playing.

Toni Morrison
Don't ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

Don't ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

Toni Morrison
Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

Toni Morrison
Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous.

Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous.

Toni Morrison
You are your best thing

You are your best thing

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

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

Toni Morrison
Lonely, ain't it?
Yes, but my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else's. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain't that something? A secondhand lonely.

Lonely, ain't it? Yes, but my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else's. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain't that something? A secondhand lonely.

Toni Morrison
What difference do it make if the thing you scared of is real or not?

What difference do it make if the thing you scared of is real or not?

Toni Morrison
Love is never any better than the lover.

Love is never any better than the lover.

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

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

Toni Morrison
The function of freedom is to free someone else.

The function of freedom is to free someone else.

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

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

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

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

Toni Morrison
A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double.

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double.

Toni Morrison
It is sheer good fortune to miss somebody long before they leave you.

It is sheer good fortune to miss somebody long before they leave you.

Toni Morrison
He wants to put his story next to hers.

He wants to put his story next to hers.

Toni Morrison
It was a fine cry - loud and long - but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

It was a fine cry - loud and long - but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

Toni Morrison
Anything dead coming back to life hurts.

Anything dead coming back to life hurts.

Toni Morrison
Lonely was much better than alone.

Lonely was much better than alone.

Toni Morrison
Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.

Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.

Toni Morrison
All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in.

[Conversation with Elizabeth Farnsworth, PBS NewsHour, March 9, 1998]

All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in. [Conversation with Elizabeth Farnsworth, PBS NewsHour, March 9, 1998]

Toni Morrison
If they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away

If they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away

Toni Morrison
Pain. I seem to have an affection, a kind of sweettooth for it. Bolts of lightning, little rivulets of thunder. 
And I the eye of the storm.

Pain. I seem to have an affection, a kind of sweettooth for it. Bolts of lightning, little rivulets of thunder. And I the eye of the storm.

Toni Morrison