A lot of black people believe that Jews in this country have become white. They behave like white people rather than Jewish people.
Toni MorrisonSchools must stop being holding pens to keep energetic young people off the job market and off the streets. We stretch puberty out a long, long time.
Toni MorrisonOccasionally, as children, we might figure out how to call somebody a name, and they would figure out how to call us. But it wasn't - it was so light. It was so fluffy. I didn't really have a strong awareness of segregation and the separation of races until I left Lorain, Ohio.
Toni MorrisonThere is a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up, holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind--wrapped tight like skin. Then there is the loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive. On its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet going seem to come from a far-off place.
Toni Morrison