There is an incredible amount of magic and feistiness in black men that nobody has been able to wipe out. But everybody has tried.
Toni MorrisonMaybe [I care about language] because I'm an editor, maybe because I'm picky, but it's all we got, don't shrink it. Don't dumb it out, make it little.
Toni MorrisonWhen 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?
Toni MorrisonYou looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.
Toni Morrison