Quotes from Toni Morrison

The function of freedom is to free someone else.

Make a difference about something other than yourselves.

For me, Art is the restoration of order. It may discuss all sort of terrible things, but there must be satisfaction at the end. A little bit of hunger, but also satisfaction.

Everything I've ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to close it.

I always looked upon the acts of racist exclusion, or insult, as pitiable, for the other person. I never absorbed that. I always thought that there was something deficient about such people.

You need intelligence, and you need to look. You need a gaze, a wide gaze, penetrating and roving - thats what's useful for art.

Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.

Books ARE a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.

Somebody has to take responsibility for being a leader.

It's been mentioned or suggested that Paradise will not be well studied, because it's about this unimportant intellectual topic, which is religion.

Don't beg anybody for anything, especially love.

Which was what love was: unmotivated respect.

I have a lot of respect for readers because I'm a reader. That's how I got into writing.

Movements toward freedom and the self-respect that comes from something other than what people think is their most important feature.

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.

If you can't count, they can cheat you. If you can't read, they can beat you.

Your life is already artful-waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art.

When am I happy and when am I sad and what is the difference? What do I need to know to stay alive? What is true in the world?

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.

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.

From my point of view, your life is already a miracle of chance waiting for you to shape its destiny.

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

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

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.