I find this time of the year to be deeply reflective. With one day rolling gently into the other, losing track of time and going deeper into my mind. I’ve been rereading a few of my favourite books by Toni Morrison to help pass the time quietly. One book, in particular – Tar Baby.
Toni’s words have always spoken to me in a way no other novelist had reached me. She wrote with such sophistication and yet with a plainness anyone could understand. She told the stories of African- American people and exhaled the many nuances in their way of life. Every character richly defined living forever outside the pages of each book. Toni was/is a treasure, She has been one of the greatest losses of 2019 in my opinion. I often use her words in my Instagram captions and wanted to share ten of my favourites quotes with you in no particular order.
10. Toni – On Flying.
” You wanna fly, You got to give up the shit that weighs you down”
9. Toni – on Beauty.
“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”
8. Toni – On Memory
“All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was”
7. Toni – On being Free.
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
6. Toni – On friendship.
“She’s a friend of MIND. She gathers me, man. The pieces I am, she gathers them and gives them back to me in all the right order”
5. Toni – On Pain.
“Pain. I seem to have an affection, a kind of sweet tooth for it. Bolts of lightning, little rivulets of thunder. And I the eye of the storm.”
4. Toni – On Love.
” Love is divine only and difficult always”
3.Toni – On Falling in love.
“Don’t ever think I fell for you or fell over you. I didn’t fall in love I rose in it.”
2. Toni – On Deep Sorrow.
“It was a fine cry – Loud and long. But it had no bottom and it had no top just circles and circles of sorrow.”
1.Toni – On Respect.
“You don’t have to love me but you damn well have to respect me.”
Do you have a favourite Toni Morrison book or quote? Let me know in the comments
Just Natoya 
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