Quotes by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

American novelist, essayist, editor

Lived from: 1931 - 2019

Category: Writers (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited States

Born: 18 february 1931 Died: 5 august 2019

  • There's a difference between writing for a living and writing for life. If you write for a living, you make enormous compromises.... If you write for life, you'll work hard; you'll do what's honest, not what pays.
  • If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
  • All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.
  • I want to discourage you from choosing anything or making any decision simply because it is safe. Things of value seldom are.
  • What's the world for you if you can't make it up the way you want it?
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  • Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.
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  • A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick.
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  • All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in.
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  • All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.
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  • 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.
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  • Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives, because they were targets everywhere. They still are.
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  • Black women have always been friends. I mean, if you didn't have each other you had nothing.
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  • Books ARE a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.
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  • Don’t beg anybody for anything, especially love.
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  • From my point of view, which is that of a storyteller, I see your life as something artful, waiting, just waiting and ready for you to make it art.
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  • How exquisitely human was the wish for permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination became trying to achieve it.
    Paradise (1998)
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  • I can't explain inspiration. A writer is either compelled to write or not. And if I waited for inspiration I wouldn't really be a writer.
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  • I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands.
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  • I don't think one parent can raise a child. I don't think two parents can raise a child. You really need the whole village.
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  • I dream a dream that dreams back at me.
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  • I get angry about things, then go on and work.
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  • I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.
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  • I want to discourage you from choosing anything or making any decision simply because it is safe. Things of value seldom are.
    ― Toni Morrison
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  • I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.
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  • If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
    ― Toni Morrison
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Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Toni Morrison?

The two most famous quotes from Toni Morrison are:

  • "Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form."
  • "A dream is just a nightmare with lipstick."

When did Toni Morrison live?

Toni Morrison was born in 1931 and died in the year 2019.