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 MorrisonIf there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
Toni MorrisonThe peace I am thinking of is the dance of an open mind when it engages another equally open one.
Toni MorrisonThere's a contract that I make between myself, the author, and the reader. I have to figure out how to give the reader certain powers of recognition, or his own knowledge, his own feelings, but I provide them, so we're working together.
Toni MorrisonIt's important, therefore, to know who the real enemy is, and to know the function, the very serious function of racism, which is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn't shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Someone says you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary. There will always be one more thing.
Toni Morrison