Toni Morrison

"Beauty is how we defend ourselves."

"The real revolution is the evolution of consciousness."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"Be your own language."

"Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the worst poverty."

"If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."

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

"Let your own worst enemy teach you to be better."

"The ability to imagine something is the beginning of the ability to create something."

"All of this is so fresh, so new. The best is yet to come."

"Pain is meant to wake us up, not put us to sleep."

"We are never as whole as when we acknowledge our brokenness."

"The past is always going to haunt you with whispers of what might have been."

"In order to get somewhere, you have to start by admitting you are not there."

"Every exquisite thing had a price, and often it was a price that was not worth paying."

"Goodness is not something to be learned, only practiced."

"You need to know that you are worthy of greatness."

"The function of racism is distraction. It keeps you explaining, and it keeps you negotiating with the translator."

"We are our history, we are our literature."

"Wallow in your own reality, not someone else's."

"When you get a chance to sit down and talk to a peer, you have to give your time."

"To get to a place where you could love anything, you first had to own yourself."

"Each time you anticipate it gets worse."

"Loving her was green."

"The ability to present yourself in a way that is so charismatic is a gift."