


I was always conscious of the constructed aspect of the writing process, and that art appears natural and elegant only as a result of constant practice and awareness of its formal structures. “I thought of myself as like the jazz musician - someone who practices and practices and practices in order to be able to invent and to make his art look effortless and graceful. We need a heroic writers’ movement: assertive, militant, pugnacious.” (“ What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction,” 2008) “We don’t need any more writers as solitary heroes. “A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind they are its necessity.” (“ The Source of Self -Regard,” 2019)

Here are some of her most memorable comments on language, creativity, identity and other subjects, taken from her speeches, interviews and writing. Toni Morrison, the Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, died on Monday, leaving behind a powerful literary legacy.
