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Sexist language, racist language, theistic language - all are typical of the policing languages of mastery, and cannot, do not, permit new knowledge or encourage the mutual exchange of ideas.

Toni Morrison

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Toni Morrison
Age: 88 †
Born: 1931
Born: February 18
Died: 2019
Died: August 5
Audiobook Narrator
Librettist
Novelist
Poet
University Teacher
Writer
Lorain
Ohio
Chloe Ardelia Wofford
Chloe Anthony Wofford-Morrison
Chloe Anthony Wofford
Morrison
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison
Mutual
Sexism
Racism
Languages
Knowledge
Exchange
Language
Mastery
Cannot
Typical
Ideas
Permit
Theistic
Encourage
Policing
Racist
Sexist

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Every now and then she looked around for tangible evidence of his having ever been there. Where were the butterflies? the blueberries? the whistling reed? She could find nothing, for he had left nothing but his stunning absence.
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Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.
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You have to be willing to think the unthinkable.
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Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives, because they were targets everywhere. They still are.
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Most of our lives are spent in little towns, little towns all throughout the country. That's where we live. And that's where the juices come from and that's where we made it, not made it in terms of success but made who we are.
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Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.
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I am in the position of judging people by the best they've ever done rather than the worst.
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Some Native American writers enjoy being called Native American writers.
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I couldn't bear to have people mispronounce my name. But the person I was was this person who was called Chloe.
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Black women are the touchstone by which all that is human can be measured.
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He wants to put his story next to hers.
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Now what? All the battles feminists won about not being a sex object, not being evaluated based on these things, that now other generations are wallowing in, the extremes they go to, to look sexually attractive? It's stunning how things that one fought desperately for are just being tossed aside with aplomb.
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Evil is so seductive. It needs to grind you up and make you its slave.
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Occasionally, as children, we might figure out how to call somebody a name, and they would figure out how to call us. But it wasn't - it was so light. It was so fluffy. I didn't really have a strong awareness of segregation and the separation of races until I left Lorain, Ohio.
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There is really nothing more to say - except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.
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I tell my students one of the most important things they need to know is when they are at their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?
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Say make me, remake me. You are free to do it and I am free to let you because look, look. Look where your hands are. Now.
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Gimme hate, Lord,” he whimpered. “I’ll take hate any day. But don’t give me love. I can’t take no more love, Lord. I can’t carry it...It’s too heavy. Jesus, you know, you know all about it. Ain’t it heavy? Jesus? Ain’t love heavy?
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Much handled things are always soft(27).
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I thought the whole world was like Lorain.
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