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Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison Quotes

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Famous Toni Morrison Quotes

“Please don't settle for happiness. It's not good enough. Of course you deserve it, but if that's all you have in mind - happiness - I want to suggest to you that personal success devoid of meaningfulness, free of a steady commitment to social justice - that's more than a barren life. It's a trivial one.”

IfsWantMindEnoughCoursesSocialJusticePleaseDeserveCommitmentSocial JusticeSettlingGood EnoughSteadyBarrenNot Good EnoughPersonal SuccessMeaningfulness
Author:Toni Morrison
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“...she needed to confirm its presence. Like the keeper of the lighthouse and the prisoner, she regarded it as a mooring, a checkpoint, some stable visual object that assured her that the world was still there; that this was like and not a dream. That she was alive somewhere, inside, which she acknowledged to be true only because a thing she knew intimately was out there, outside of herself.”

WorldStillsDreamAliveObjectsNeededBeing TrueVisualsPrisonerStableAssuredKeepersLighthouseCheckpoints
Book:Sula
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“The men began to trade tales of atrocities, first stories they had heard, then those they'd witnessed, and finally the things that had happened to themselves. A litany of personal humiliation, outrage, and anger turned sicklelike back to themselves as humor. They laughed then, uproariously, about the speed with which they had run, the pose they had assumed, the ruse they had invented to escape or decrease some threat to their manliness, their humanness. All but Empire State, who stood, broom in hand and drop-lipped, with the expression of a very intelligent ten-year-old.”

MenYearsFirstsStatesStoriesHandsRunningHappenedHeardHe ManExpressionTenIntelligentTradeThreatSpeedTalesEmpiresLaughedHumiliationOutrageAtrocitiesDecreaseHumannessManlinessBroomsEmpire State
Book:Sula
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“She is convinced that when language dies, out of carelessness, disuse, indifference and absence of esteem, or killed by fiat, not only she herself, but all users and makers are accountable for its demise. In her country children have bitten their tongues off and use bullets instead to iterate the voice of speechlessness, of disabled and disabling language, of language adults have abandoned altogether as a device for grappling with meaning, providing guidance, or expressing love.”

LoveChildrenCountryUseAgeDiesLanguageVoiceAdultsTongueConvincedAbsenceEsteemIndifferenceGuidanceDevicesMakersAbandonedUsersProvidingBulletsDisabledDemiseCarelessnessGrapplingExpressing Love
Author:Toni Morrison
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“If he looked into her face, he would see those haunted, loving eyes. The hauntedness would irritate him - the love would move him to fury. How dare she love him? Hadn't she any sense at all? What was he supposed to do about that? Return it? How? What could his calloused hands produce to make her smile? What of his knowledge of the world and of life could be useful to her? What could his heavy arms and befuddled brain accomplish that would earn him his own respect, that would in turn allow him to accept her love?”

IfsWorldHandsEyeFacesMovingTurnsBrainAcceptingProduceArmsReturnDareHeavyAccomplishFuryLoving LifeHer SmileKnowledge Of The WorldMake Her SmileLoving Eyes
Author:Toni Morrison
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