Toni Morrison

What is the world for if you can't make it up the way you want it?

The trauma is not knowing what happened.

I write what I have to write. And if it's not accepted, then it's not accepted.

I am not interested in being a human being. I am interested in being a Black human being.

I don't think there's any such thing as a female writer. I think there are writers.

A writer's life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.

The future is always here. It’s always now.

There is no place you can go and be safe, because there is no place that you can go and be free.

I have to be in a country where I can be a writer.

When you get to be my age, you realize that people are not all that different.

The world is not going to be saved by another book.

I am not interested in writing for white people. I am interested in writing for Black people.

The people who are trying to make the world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?

Certain things you can't learn in a classroom. You have to learn them on the streets, in the world, in life.

Navigating without a compass, which is to say, without a clear idea of what is right and what is wrong, is a dangerous business.

You are your own best thing.

When you know something, you know it, and when you don't, you don't. And you can't fake it.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

I'm writing for black people, in the same way that Tolstoy was writing for Russians, but everybody was reading Tolstoy.

Racism is a distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you from thinking you’re not good enough or that you’re not worthy.