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Toni Morrison

Writer
Jump, if you want to, ‘cause I’ll catch you, girl. I’ll catch you “fore you fall. Go as far inside as you need to, I’ll hold your ankles. Make sure you get back out. I’m not saying this because I need a place to stay. That’s the last thing I need. I told you, I’m a walking man, but I been heading in this direction for seven years. Walking all around this place. Upstate, downstate, east, west; I been in territory ain’t got no name, never staying nowhere long. But when I got here and sat out there on the porch, waiting for you, well, I knew it wasn’t the place I was heading toward; it was you. We can make a life, girl. A life.
From Beloved
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
I want to feel what I feel. What's mine. Even if it's not happiness, whatever that means. Because you're all you've got.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
You have pissed your last in this house . . . and I don't make velvet roses anymore.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Motivational
It's gonna hurt, now," said Amy. "anything dead coming back to life hurts.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
... purist and yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Education
I like marriage. The idea.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Funny
She was the third beer. Not the first one, which the throat receives with almost tearful gratitude; nor the second, that confirms and extends the pleasure of the first. But the third, the one you drink because it's there, because it can't hurt, and because what difference does it make?
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
Love is or it ain’t
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
No gasp at a miracle that is truly miraculous because the magic lies in the fact that you knew it was there for you all along.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
The human body is robust. It can gather strength when it's in mortal danger.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
He read greedily but understood selectively, choosing the bits and pieces of other men's ideas that supported whatever predilection he had at the moment. Thus he chose to remember Hamlet's abuse of Ophelia, but not Christ's love of Mary Magdalene; Hamlet's frivolous politics, but not Christ's serious anarchy. He noticed Gibbon's acidity, but not his tolerance, Othello's love for the fair Desdemona, but not Iago's perverted love of Othello. The works he admired most were Dante's; those he despised most were Dostoyevsky's. For all his exposure to the best minds of the Western world, he allowed only the narrowest interpretation to touch him.
From The Bluest Eye
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Education
The function of freedom is to free someone else.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.
From Beloved
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
How exquisitely human was the wish for permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination became trying to achieve it.
From Paradise
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
Jump, if you want to, ‘cause I’ll catch you, girl. I’ll catch you “fore you fall. Go as far inside as you need to, I’ll hold your ankles. Make sure you get back out. I’m not saying this because I need a place to stay. That’s the last thing I need. I told you, I’m a walking man, but I been heading in this direction for seven years. Walking all around this place. Upstate, downstate, east, west; I been in territory ain’t got no name, never staying nowhere long. But when I got here and sat out there on the porch, waiting for you, well, I knew it wasn’t the place I was heading toward; it was you. We can make a life, girl. A life.
From Beloved
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
I want to feel what I feel. What's mine. Even if it's not happiness, whatever that means. Because you're all you've got.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
You have pissed your last in this house . . . and I don't make velvet roses anymore.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Motivational
It's gonna hurt, now," said Amy. "anything dead coming back to life hurts.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
... purist and yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Education
I like marriage. The idea.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Funny
She was the third beer. Not the first one, which the throat receives with almost tearful gratitude; nor the second, that confirms and extends the pleasure of the first. But the third, the one you drink because it's there, because it can't hurt, and because what difference does it make?
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
Love is or it ain’t
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
No gasp at a miracle that is truly miraculous because the magic lies in the fact that you knew it was there for you all along.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
The human body is robust. It can gather strength when it's in mortal danger.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
He read greedily but understood selectively, choosing the bits and pieces of other men's ideas that supported whatever predilection he had at the moment. Thus he chose to remember Hamlet's abuse of Ophelia, but not Christ's love of Mary Magdalene; Hamlet's frivolous politics, but not Christ's serious anarchy. He noticed Gibbon's acidity, but not his tolerance, Othello's love for the fair Desdemona, but not Iago's perverted love of Othello. The works he admired most were Dante's; those he despised most were Dostoyevsky's. For all his exposure to the best minds of the Western world, he allowed only the narrowest interpretation to touch him.
From The Bluest Eye
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Education
The function of freedom is to free someone else.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.
From Beloved
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
How exquisitely human was the wish for permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination became trying to achieve it.
From Paradise
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
Jump, if you want to, ‘cause I’ll catch you, girl. I’ll catch you “fore you fall. Go as far inside as you need to, I’ll hold your ankles. Make sure you get back out. I’m not saying this because I need a place to stay. That’s the last thing I need. I told you, I’m a walking man, but I been heading in this direction for seven years. Walking all around this place. Upstate, downstate, east, west; I been in territory ain’t got no name, never staying nowhere long. But when I got here and sat out there on the porch, waiting for you, well, I knew it wasn’t the place I was heading toward; it was you. We can make a life, girl. A life.
From Beloved
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
I want to feel what I feel. What's mine. Even if it's not happiness, whatever that means. Because you're all you've got.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
You have pissed your last in this house . . . and I don't make velvet roses anymore.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Motivational
It's gonna hurt, now," said Amy. "anything dead coming back to life hurts.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
... purist and yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Education
I like marriage. The idea.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Funny
She was the third beer. Not the first one, which the throat receives with almost tearful gratitude; nor the second, that confirms and extends the pleasure of the first. But the third, the one you drink because it's there, because it can't hurt, and because what difference does it make?
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
Love is or it ain’t
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Relationships
No gasp at a miracle that is truly miraculous because the magic lies in the fact that you knew it was there for you all along.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
The human body is robust. It can gather strength when it's in mortal danger.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
He read greedily but understood selectively, choosing the bits and pieces of other men's ideas that supported whatever predilection he had at the moment. Thus he chose to remember Hamlet's abuse of Ophelia, but not Christ's love of Mary Magdalene; Hamlet's frivolous politics, but not Christ's serious anarchy. He noticed Gibbon's acidity, but not his tolerance, Othello's love for the fair Desdemona, but not Iago's perverted love of Othello. The works he admired most were Dante's; those he despised most were Dostoyevsky's. For all his exposure to the best minds of the Western world, he allowed only the narrowest interpretation to touch him.
From The Bluest Eye
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Education
The function of freedom is to free someone else.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.
From Beloved
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.
From Song of Solomon
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
How exquisitely human was the wish for permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination became trying to achieve it.
From Paradise
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness