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" Everybody gets everything handed to them. The rich inherit it. I don't mean just inheritance of money. I mean what people take for granted among the middle and upper classes, which is nepotism, the old-boy network. "

Toni Morrison

Rich

Money

People

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" Women's rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also a personal affair. It is not only about us; it is also about me and you. Just the two of us. "

Toni Morrison

Personal

Equality

" The unflattering reviews are painful for short periods of time; the badly written ones are deeply, deeply insulting. That reviewer took no time to really read the book. "

" When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same. "

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" You need a whole community to raise a child. I have raised two children, alone. "

" I like marriage. The idea. "

Toni Morrison

Idea

Funny

" As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think. "

" The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power. "

" I'm always annoyed about why black people have to bear the brunt of everybody else's contempt. If we are not totally understanding and smiling, suddenly we're demons. "