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I began to realize that this idea of the lighter the better and the darker the worse was really - had an impact on sororities, on friendships, on all sorts of things, and it was stunning to me.

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
Realizing
Darker
Idea
Stunning
Ideas
Friendships
Better
Sorts
Really
Began
Things
Impact
Sorority
Worse
Lighters
Realize
Lighter

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The screams of a hurt woman were indistinguishable from everyday traffic.
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If a Negro got legs he ought to use them. Sit down too long, somebody will figure out a way to tie them up.
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Sifting daylight dissolves the memory, turns it into dust motes floating in light.
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What I think the political correctness debate is really about is the power to be able to define. The definers want the power to name. And the defined are now taking that power away from them.
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At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.
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The function of freedom is to free someone else.
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Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous.
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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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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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For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
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The seeds of destruction lie in the definition of chosen-ness and can easily blossom into bigotry. It's not inevitable but it needs constant care to avoid.
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When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do.
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Race is the least reliable information you can have about someone. It's real information, but it tells you next to nothing.
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Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created.
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How exquisitely human was the wish for permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination became trying to achieve it.
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Much handled things are always soft(27).
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If you're going to hold someone down you're going to have to hold on by the other end of the chain. You are confined by your own repression.
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Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one.
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What do you say? There really are no words for that. There really aren't. Somebody tries to say, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.' People say that to me. There's no language for it. Sorry doesn't do it. I think you should just hug people and mop their floor or something.
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You need a whole community to raise a child. I have raised two children, alone.
Toni Morrison