Toni Morrison (born as Chloe Ardelia Wofford Morrison) is the first African-American woman to be acknowledged with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 for her novels. These novels were characterized by visionary force and poetic import, giving life to an essential aspect of American reality. She has written numerous novels, children’s books, and essay compilations. From the first novel she wrote, “The Bluest Eye”, she carried on to jot down outstanding works such as “Song of Solomon”, “Sula” and the most praised “Beloved”, one of her most admired and valued book for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 as well as the American Book Award. She was also a professor at Princeton University and held several seminars for pursuing writers.
Brought up in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison’s parents had inspired a profound sense of culture and language in their daughter with the help of stories and songs. Regardless of facing racism, her parents held their head high and taught her at a young age that one can maintain their integrity despite facing criticism from others.
She passed away at the age of 88 in 2019 leaving behind a dynamic literary legacy.
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the States, expressed his tribute on social media:
“Toni Morrison was a national prized possession. Her work was not only beautiful but meaningful at the same time. She was an amazing storyteller and as fascinating, in person just like she was on the page. Michelle and I grieve her loss and express our heartfelt sympathies to her family and friends.”
Till Date, Morrison is remembered as one of the most significant novelists of our time. Remembering her legacy,
Here are 25 best Toni Morrison Quotes to celebrate the great personality:
1. “I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.”
Few things in life you do not to accomplish or gain something but just for yourself, for your satisfaction and not for the world to see.
2. “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”
We know that everyone dies one day and that is the end and the meaning of life, but language and literature are something that adds meaning to our lives.
3. “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”
The definition is owned by the one who inscribes it and never the one who defined it.
4. “Writing is really a way of thinking – not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic, or just sweet.”
Whether the thing is problematic, sweet, or difficult, writing is a frame of mind. Writing is soothing, writing is healing.
5. “A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.”
Language, literature, and the work of a writer are essential for the human race. It’s not a gift, it is a requirement.
6. “We don’t need any more writers as solitary heroes. We need a heroic writers’ movement: assertive, militant, pugnacious.”
You are in need of a powerful, confident, and enthusiastic writer’s movement rather than more solitary heroes.
7. “My world did not shrink because I was a Black female writer. It just got bigger.”
If you are determined to achieve a goal, race, caste, and gender don’t come between your success as barriers. You need to be full of enthusiasm and don’t let anything get in the way.
8. “You are your best thing.”
You are enough for yourself. If you have self-belief, and self-confidence, it will be enough to transform your own life.
9. “Today is always here. Tomorrow, never.”
Whatever you wish to do, do it today. Tomorrow never comes.
10. “If you can’t imagine it, you can’t have it.”
What you can imagine is what you can create. Firstly, dream about what you want to achieve.
11. “You can do some rather extraordinary things if that’s what you really believe.”
If you desire to accomplish unusual and extraordinary things the first step is to believe and the next is that you will achieve.
12. “I don’t want to make somebody else. I want to make myself.”
Work on yourself, don’t aim to please others and appreciate who you are. Make yourself better with each passing day, make yourself a priority.
13. “You are not the work you do, you are the person you are.”
Let’s separate the work you do and who you are. You are not your work. What defines you is who you are as a person.
14. “The human body is robust. It can gather strength when it’s in mortal danger.”
We people are strong, we can be extremely intense and powerful in a deadly situation, and we are capable of doing amazing things.
15. “Good is knowing when to stop.”
In life, it is important to know when to stop with a particular thing. Excessiveness of anything is never good.
16. “What’s the world for you if you can’t make it up the way you want it?”
Shape the world according to you, for it is you who deserves the whole of it.
17. “But to find out the truth about how dreams die, one should never take the word of the dreamer.”
A dreamer works for his dreams and never lets them die. Hence, one should work really hard towards their dreams and work until they achieve it.
18. “Whatever the work is, do it well — not for the boss but for yourself.”
Work for yourself more than you do for your job. Don’t work to complete the task but to learn something and make yourself better.
19. “I don’t think a female running a house is a problem, a broken family. It’s perceived as one because of the notion that a head is a man.”
It is not only the man’s responsibility to work and earn for his family. If we talk about equal rights and equal powers there is nothing wrong with a woman running a house.
20. “You make the job, it doesn’t make you.”
Make a difference while you are doing the job. You won’t be able to do a good job if your job is all about what you are doing. It is how well you do it!
21. “When I went into the publishing industry, many women talked about the difficulty they had in persuading their families to let them go to college. They educated the boys, and the girls had to struggle.”
People didn’t see that there is a need to educate females as well. The men were supposed to go to the schools and females had to fight for their right.
22. “The function of freedom is to free someone else.”
If you are the blessed one who has achieved freedom, your duty is to free other people using your power of freedom.
23. “Somebody has to take responsibility for being a leader.”
Take a step ahead, be a leader who creates new leaders and show the right way to the people.
24. “I type in one place, but I write all over the house.”
While we might do the actual writing work in one place, our ideas often strike when we are furthest from our keyboard or notebook. Toni Morrison would type in once place but create a difference all over with her writing.
25. “Passion is never enough; neither is a skill.”
Learning never stops. You keep finding a new passion for your course of life and you keep developing new skills. Both of these never come to an end.
Also Read: Bob Ross quotes to brighten your day
