Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives, because they were targets everywhere. They still are.

Quote by Toni Morrison

Topics: Toni Morrison Quotes

My children are delightful people, whom I would love even if they weren't my children.

My children are delightful people, whom I would love even if they weren't my children.

The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange...

The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange...

Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.

Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.

Make a difference about something other than yourselves.

Make a difference about something other than yourselves.

Schools must stop being holding pens to keep energetic young people off the job market...

Schools must stop being holding pens to keep energetic young people off the job market...

If you're going to hold someone down you're going to have to hold on by...

If you're going to hold someone down you're going to have to hold on by...

I remember a very important lesson that my father gave me when I was twelve...

I remember a very important lesson that my father gave me when I was twelve...

There is really nothing more to say-except why. But since why is difficult to handle,...

There is really nothing more to say-except why. But since why is difficult to handle,...

You marvel at the economy and this choice of words. How many ways can you...

You marvel at the economy and this choice of words. How many ways can you...

I'm not entangled in shaping my work according to other people's views of how I...

I'm not entangled in shaping my work according to other people's views of how I...

The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange...

The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange...

I would solve a lot of literary problems just thinking about a character in the...

I would solve a lot of literary problems just thinking about a character in the...

When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same.

When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same.

If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet,...

If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet,...

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.

Everywhere, everywhere, children are the scorned people of the earth.

Everywhere, everywhere, children are the scorned people of the earth.

Women's rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also a personal affair....

Women's rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also a personal affair....

In becoming an American, from Europe, what one has in common with that other immigrant...

In becoming an American, from Europe, what one has in common with that other immigrant...

Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet,...

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet,...