Toni Morrison

"Word-work is sublime... because it is generative; it makes meaning that secures our difference, our human difference-the way in which we are like no other life. We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives."

7 likes

Source: Nobel Prize for Literature Lecture, delivered 7 December 1993

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