Toni Morrison

"It's always seemed to me that black people's grace has been with what they do with language. In Lorrain, Ohio, when I was a child, I went to school with and heard the stories of Mexicans, Italians, and Greeks, and I listened. I remember their language, and a lot of it is marvelous. But when I think of things my mother or father or aunts used to say, it seems the most absolutely striking thing in the world."

3 likes

Source: Toni Morrison (1992). “Jazz”, Alfred a Knopf Inc

About the author

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

Novelist, Essayist

Toni Morrison was a celebrated American novelist known for her powerful exploration of race, identity, and love, particularly in her acclaimed work 'Beloved'.

All quotes by Toni Morrison →

Same author

More quotes by Toni Morrison

See all →
Toni Morrison Novelist, Essayist

"There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race - scientifically, anthropologically. Racism is a construct, a social construct... it has a social function, racism."

Read quote
Toni Morrison Novelist, Essayist

"There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal."

Read quote