Toni Morrison

"When you first start writing-and I think it's true for a lot of beginning writers-you're scared to death that if you don't get that sentence right that minute it's never going to show up again. And it isn't. But it doesn't matter-another one will, and it'll probably be better. And I don't mind writing badly for a couple of days because I know I can fix it-and fix it again and again and again, and it will be better."

32 likes

Source: Toni Morrison, Carolyn C. Denard (2008). “What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction”, p.79, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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