Toni Morrison

"Truth is not always comfortable, but it is always necessary."

"Peace begins within the self."

"Hope is the oxygen of the oppressed."

"The function of wisdom is to make right choices."

"Knowledge without application is merely information."

"Life is not about finding yourself; it is about creating yourself."

"Love is the only force that transcends death."

"Family is both our origin and our destination."

"Imagination creates possibilities; action creates reality."

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

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

"The function of racism is to distract you so that you will not see who the enemy is."

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

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

"Beloved, she is mine. She is the best thing that ever happened to me."

"You marvel at the economy of language, at how much meaning can be packed into so few words."

"There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear."

"The ability to imagine ourselves as different from what we are is the first step in liberation."

"Some things we think about just because they are not here."

"A dead people cannot be liberated until they have stopped believing they are not worthy of life."

"I'm a believer in process. I'm a believer in all of the tedious, frustrating, exhilarating process."

"Living in the world with all its pain requires bravery."

"You can't just take this, my love. You are mine."

"Mama, is this where you sent me not to go?"

"Sethe, the iron circle of her maternal love."

"The tongue is a powerful thing. Words are precious."

"We are never so vulnerable as when we love someone."

"Simple. Final. Not passionate, just facts."

"In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass."

"The mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived."