Toni Morrison

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

"You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down."

"Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another."

"Being alive is the real work."

"Quiet as it's kept, there were no harmless colors."

"There is really nothing more to say—except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how."

"Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all."

"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives."

"If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down."

"Home is not a place, it's a time."

"All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was."

"I tell my students one thing: the difference between ready and not ready is the difference between wishing and willing."

"Don't ever think there's only one way to do things."

"The most important thing is to play the game that is being played."

"You marvel at the economy of words. How much better you say it, for much less."

"Anything dead coming back to life hurts."

"You have to get beyond yourself."

"I don't believe any telling of life can be with absolute truth."

"If you want to make a nest, you must have the right materials."

"I'm always amazed by people who know about things that I don't know about."

"What I think the political correctness debate is really about is the power to be able to define."

"Freeing yourself is a task that nobody else can do for you."

"We must accept our own thoughts when they are introduced to us."

"Every real movement of history is rooted in real material conditions."

"The function of freedom is to free someone else."

"Unsolved and unresolved rage was dangerous."

"Read. Read everything."

"The future of the world is in my hands and it is also in yours."

"It's hard to make sense of it all together. But that may be the point."

"Be careful when they tell you anything at all."