Quotes by Toni Morrison

About Toni Morrison:

Toni Morrison is an American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved. She was also commissioned to write the libretto for a new opera, Margaret Garner, first performed in 2005. She won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1988 for Beloved and the Nobel Prize in 1993. On May 29, 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Morrison serves as Professor Emeritus at Princeton University.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Where do you get the right to decide our lives? I'll tell you where. From that little hog's gut that hangs between your legs. Well, let me tell you something... you will need more than that. I don't know where you will get it or who will give it to y...

Toni Morrison

He wondered if there was anyone in the world who liked him. Liked him for himself alone.

Toni Morrison

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. No record of it needs to be kept and you don't need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens — that let...

Toni Morrison

If she answered, he could not hear it, and he certainly couldn't see her, so he went. First he crawled the rocks one by one, one by one, till his hands touched shore and the nursing sound of the sea was behind him. He felt around, crawled off and the...

Toni Morrison

Jacques practically choked on his coffee. Did she just suggest what I think she did? “Jerard is a close friend of mine. He’s a great...” He stopped the worthless chatter about Jerard. He had to know. “Are you a submissive?” Her eyes flicked...

Toni Morrison

Oh, why not? You only live once. Isabella pulled out a cigarette as she sauntered over to him. Her sex god turned, his glowing eyes burning right through her again, but her alcoholic armor held fast. “Hey, handsome. Got a light?” He cocked an eye...

Toni Morrison

In his arms, I slowly unfolded like a love note read in secret.

Toni Morrison

Do the thing you love to do. Hank Williams died at the ripe old age of twentynine. Stevie Ray Vaughan at thirty-five. Jesus at thirtythree. Don’t think you’re special and the Lord’s gonna bless you with time.

Toni Morrison

My life's been defined by my actions. I've shaped my destiny through my battles. I would rather keep chasing after my dreams until I crumble into dust than sit around waiting for fate to show me mercy.

Toni Morrison

Either give me your hand, or end it now, and put us both out of our misery

Toni Morrison

Don't do this to us." He warned, his voice hoarse with angry desperation as he realize he was losing her. "You're letting eleven years of mistrust color everything you've discovered I've done".

Toni Morrison

You can't outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little sidebets about the outcome of life. either you wade in and risk everything you have to play the game or you don't play at all. and if u don't play u can't win.

Toni Morrison

I'm thinking that it will be autumn soon," she said, lifting her gaze to his. "Autumn is my absolute favorite season. Spring is overrated. It's soggy and the trees are still bare from winter. Winter drags on and on, and summer is nice, but it's all t...

Toni Morrison

Some people feel love in their hearts, Julie. Some of us feel it all way into our souls. We're the ones who can't forget.

Toni Morrison

He will love only once - but it will be for always.

Toni Morrison

Respect yourself and others will come to respect you. That is true about all of us, but especially true about women. That is the meaning of honour.

Toni Morrison

It had been the longest time since she had had a rib-scraping laugh. She had forgotten how deep and down it could be. So different from the miscellaneous giggles and smiles she had learned to be content with these past few years.

Toni Morrison

You looked at me then like you knew me, and I thought it really was Eden, and I couldn't take your eyes in because I was loving the hoof marks on your cheeks.

Toni Morrison

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 Morrison

When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same.

Toni Morrison

If you're going to hold someone down you're going to have to hold on by the other end of the chain. You are confined by your own repression.

Toni Morrison

Author Bio

  • NameToni Morrison
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • BornFebruary 18, 1931
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist; Librettist
  • AwardsNobel Prize In Literature; Knight Of The Legion Of Honour; Commandeur Des Arts Et Des Lettres?; Norman Mailer Prize; National Humanities Medal; The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal