My world did not shrink because I was a black female writer. It just got bigger.

Anything I have ever learned of any consequence, I have learned from Black people. I have never been bored by any Black person, ever.

Life that crawled, life that slunk and crept and never closed its eyes. Life that burrowed and scurried, and life so still it was indistinguishable from the ivy stems on which it lay. Birth, life, and death - each took place on the hidden side of a leaf.

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

One has to work very carefully with what is in between the words. What is not said. Which is measure, which is rhythm and so on. So, it is what you don't write that frequently gives what you do write its power.

More than fear of loving bears or birds bigger than cows, I fear pathless nights. How, I wonder, can I find you in the dark?

you got two feet, Sethe, not four." he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; tactless and quiet.