Our favorite Toni Morrison quotes
We're celebrating Toni Morrison's 85th birthday by sharing some of our favorite quotes and stories.
"I can't explain inspiration. A writer is either compelled to write or not. And if I waited for inspiration I wouldn't really be a writer." -TIME, 1998
"It’s a bad word, ‘belong.’ Especially when you put it with somebody you love … You can’t own a human being." -Song of Solomon
"Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down." -Song of Solomon
"Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another." -Beloved
"Something that is loved is never lost." -Beloved
“Don’t ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn’t fall in love, I rose in it." -Jazz
"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." -Song of Solomon