Grownups don't pay it much attention because they can't imagine anything more majestic to a child than their own selves and so confused dependence for reverence.

— Toni Morrison

Guileless and without vanity, we were still in love with ourselves then. We felt comfortable in our own skins, enjoyed the news that our senses released to us, admired our dirt, cultivated our scars, and could not comprehend this unworthiness.

— Toni Morrison

Hate does that. Burns off everything but itself, so whatever your grievance is, your face looks just like your enemy's.

— Toni Morrison

He can't value you more than you value yourself.

— Toni Morrison

…he didn’t need words or even want them because he knew how they could lie, could heat your blood and disappear.

— Toni Morrison

He licked his lips. ‘Well, if you want my opinion-‘‘I don’t, ‘ She said. ‘I have my own.

— Toni Morrison

Here was an ugly little girl asking for beauty.... A little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes. His outrage grew and felt like power. For the first time he honestly wished he could work miracles.

— Toni Morrison

Her passions were narrow but deep.

— Toni Morrison

He's talking Louisiana, you're speaking Tennessee. The music so different, the sound coming from a different part of the body. It most of been like hearing lyrics set to scores by two different composers. But when you made love he most of have said I love you, and you understood that, and it was true, too, because I have seen the desperation in his eyes ever since—no matter what business venture he thinks up.

— Toni Morrison

He wondered if there was anyone in the world who liked him. Liked him for himself alone.

— Toni Morrison