15 Toni Morrison Quotes About Life, Love, and the Importance of Empowering Others

Updated on 8/10/2019 at 5:55 PM

On Aug. 5, the world said goodbye to prolific writer Toni Morrison, who died at the age of 88 due to complications of pneumonia. As people mourned the loss of a bright soul, they also acknowledged the long-lasting legacy she left behind. "While you have left the physical realm, the many treasures you left us will bear fruit for generations and generations," Tracee Ellis Ross wrote in her tribute. "Your work has cascaded through my life deeply and simply . . . rest in power to a beloved icon."

Toni often used her literary dexterity to explore the complexities of the black experience in America. Throughout her life, she earned many revered awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her novel Beloved, which centers on a former slave who is haunted by her deceased daughter. She also won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, making her the first black woman to ever win the honor. Nearly two decades later, former President Barack Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Toni's words have undoubtedly inspired many over the past few decades. Whether she was talking about love or race, she managed to teach the world valuable lessons with flair and beautiful prose. In celebration of Toni's lifelong dedication to encouraging others through her craft, check out some of her most galvanizing quotes ahead!

Toni Morrison's Quotes About Life

"You wanna fly, you got to give up the sh*t that weighs you down."
"I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom."
"I am a storyteller and therefore an optimist, a firm believer in the ethical bend of the human heart, a believer in the mind's appetite for truth and its disgust with fraud. I'm a believer in the power of knowledge and the ferocity of beauty, so from my point of view, your life is already artful — waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art."

Toni Morrison's Quotes About Love

"Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all."
"Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don't, do you? And neither does he. You're turning over your whole life to him . . . And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him?"
"Don't ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it."

Toni Morrison's Quotes About Race

"The very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. None of that is necessary."
"Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence. It must be rejected, altered, and exposed. 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."
"If I take your race away, and there you are, all strung out. And all you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself? If you can only be tall because somebody is on their knees, then you have a serious problem."

Toni Morrison's Quotes About Writing

"I thought of myself as like the jazz musician — someone who practices and practices and practices in order to be able to invent and to make his art look effortless and graceful. I was always conscious of the constructed aspect of the writing process, and that art appears natural and elegant only as a result of constant practice and awareness of its formal structures."
"Everything I see or do, the weather and the water, buildings. . . . everything actual is an advantage when I am writing. It is like a menu, or a giant tool box, and I can pick and choose what I want. When I am not writing, or more important, when I have nothing on my mind for a book, then I see chaos, confusion, disorder."
"A writer's life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity."

Toni Morrison's Quotes About Success

"I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.'"
"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."
"If you find a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."