• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Lasso The Moon
  • Welcome
  • Parenting
  • Recipes
  • Family Games
  • Travel
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Welcome
  • Parenting
  • Recipes
  • Family Games
  • Travel
search icon
Homepage link
  • Welcome
  • Parenting
  • Recipes
  • Family Games
  • Travel
×

Home » Blog » Monthly Inspiration » August Inspiration

15 Book Excerpts + Quotes from Toni Morrison

Published: Aug 6, 2019 by Zina Harrington · Post may contain affiliate links

Below you'll find fifteen book excerpts and quotes from Toni Morrison. On August 6 of 2019, the world lost this amazing author, poet, humanitarian.

15 quotes from Toni Morrison #quotes #morrison *Love this collection
This photo is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

. . .

When my husband told me that this wonderful woman passed, I felt a weight in my chest — what a loss for this world.

Below you'll find fifteen book excerpts and quotes from Toni Morrison, but I quickly want to tell you the one small thing she said that changed my life.

I had the opportunity to listen to Toni Morrison speak in my twenties. I studied literature in college, and Toni Morrison was one of my favorite authors. My alma mater was hosting a small engagement at the university, and my husband got us tickets.

She spoke on a variety of topics, but toward the end of her talk, she went on a rant about smiling. She explained...

So often we go about our days speaking with and smiling kindly at strangers who we'll never see again, then we go home and unpleasently unleash our stress and exhaustion on our families.

She reminded us that, while common courtesies are important,

We need to save some of our patience, kindness, and smiles for the end of the day, when we reconnect with the people we love, as they deserve these things from us.

This made me pause.

There is something to be said for unwinding with the people who unconditionally love us at the end of the day.

But then I thought about how I'd spend my day at work patiently interacting with co-workers, using my please and thank yous with waitresses at lunch, handing out smiles to people I'd pass in the parking lot ... then I'd come home exhausted after a long day and leave that public-level kindness at the door.

When my husband and I heard Toni Morrison speak, we didn't have children yet. Still, this small rant of hers about smiles stuck with me over the years, and it is an integrated part of our family life.

Over the years, I've worked with my girls to teach them the joy of small gestures of kindness in our home.

Simple things like pausing and greeting family members lovingly when they get home, making eye contact at dinner, saying please + thank you's to our partners, setting down your phone if someone is speaking to you ...

There are so many everyday kindnesses we show strangers that our families deserve.

Toni Morrison's exquisite use of language and richly detailed narratives changed my perspectives of history and the world, and this small rant changed my day-to-day family life.

15 Book Excerpts + Quotes from Toni Morrison

"Your life is already a miracle of chance waiting for you to shape its destiny."
― Toni Morrison

“Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.”
― Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

“Today is always here. Tomorrow, never.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

"You wanna fly, you got to give up the thing that weighs you down."
― Toni Morrison

"At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough." ― Toni Morrison

“Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.” ― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

"I see your life as already artful, just waiting and ready for you to make art."
― Toni Morrison

“Lonely was much better than alone.”
― Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

“She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
― Toni Morrison

“Anger ... it's a paralyzing emotion ... you can't get anything done. People sort of think it's an interesting, passionate, and igniting feeling — I don't think it's any of that — it's helpless ... it's absence of control — and I need all of my skills, all of the control, all of my powers ... and anger doesn't provide any of that — I have no use for it whatsoever." [Interview with CBS radio host Don Swaim, September 15, 1987.]”
― Toni Morrison

"Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all."
― Toni Morrison

“You are your best thing”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double.”
― Toni Morrison

And today, on this day of loss, may we all remember that...

“Something that is loved is never lost.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

Something that is loved is never lost. - Toni Morrison #quote #beloved *Love this

Pin this post for later:

15 quotes from Toni Morrison #quotes #morrison *Love this collection

More August Inspiration

  • How to Make The BEST Bourbon BBQ Sauce + Crockpot Ribs!
  • How to Make THE BEST Homemade Lemonade (+ 25 Delightfully Delicious Lemonade Twists)
  • Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself—Your Kids May Have Learned More Than You Think This Summer
  • You Know You've Raised Your Kids to Be Cat People When...

Primary Sidebar

Portrait of Zina

Hi, I'm Zina! You know you’re in the right spot if — You believe in game nights. You believe in PJ movie parties. You believe in breakfast for dinner. And most importantly, you believe happiness is family.

Let me show you around →

Popular

  • 7 Astoundingly Helpful Tips for Moving With Cats into a New Home
  • 5 Brutally Honest Things Every Woman Turning 40 Should Know
  • The Best Way To Pack a Suitcase: How to Travel With a Family + a Single Suitcase
  • How to Ensure Your Tween ROCKS the First Day of Middle School
  • Hidden Valley Ranch Chicken Marinade — THE BEST Chicken Recipe With Only 4-Ingredients!
  • Chicken Biscuit Casserole

Footer

↑ back to top

Lasso The Moon

  • About This Site
  • Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Policy

Slow Down In Life

  • Overwhelm and busy get in the way of finding time for what really matters in life. Ready to reset? Join me at Becoming UnBusy too!

Slow Living Movement

  • "She silently stepped out of the race she never wanted to be in, found her own lane, and proceeded to win."
    — Pam Lambert

Copyright © 2020 Lasso The Moon

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.