God Help the Child - Toni Morrison

"I mad little mistakes deliberately, but she had ways to punish me without touching the skin she hated."

"Black sells. It's the hottest commodity in the civilized world. White girls, even brown girls have to strip naked to get that kind of attention."

"Taught me a lesson I should have known all along. What you do to children matters. And they might never forget."

"Every girl I know introduces her boyfriend as a lawyer or artist or club owner or broker or whatever. The job, not the guy, is what the girlfriend adores."

"As a teacher I thought I was well read although in college, as an education major, I was not required to read any literature. Until I was in prison I'd never read The Odyssey or Jane Austen. None of it taught me much, but concentating on escapes, deceits, and who would marry whom was a welcome distraction."

"I don't think many people appreciate silence or realize that it is as close to music as you can get. Quiet makes some folks fidget or feel too lonely. After fifteen years of noise I was hungry for silence more than food."

"When I woke up I reminded myself that freedom is never free. You have to fight for it. Work for it and make sure you are able to handle it. Now I think of it, that black girl did do me a favor. Not the foolish one she had in mind, not the money she offered, but the gift that neither of us planned: the relase of tears unshed for fifteen years. No more bottling up, No more filth. Now I am clean and able."

"The reason for this tracking was not love, she knew; it was more hurt than anger that made her drive into unknown territory to locate the one person she once trusted, who made her feel safe, colonized somehow. Without him the world was more than confusing - shallow, cold, deliberately hostile."

"'Why is her skin so black?'
'For the same reason yours is so white.'"

"Just because he had two college degrees he thaught he could tell everybody what to do. They rolled their eyes at his arrogance."

"Simply dumbstruck by her beauty Booker stared open-mouthed at a young blue-black woman standing at the curb laughing. He clothes were white, her hair like a million black butterflies asleep on her head."

"Booker had no words to describe his feelings. What he did know was that the rain-soaked air smelled like lilac when he played while remembering her."

"A child. New life. Immune to evil or illness, protected from kidnap, beatings, rape, racism, insult, hurt, self-loathing, abandonment. Error-free. All goodness. Minus wrath. So they believe."

"Listen to me. You are about to find out what it takes, how the world is, how is works and how it changes when you are a parent. Good luck and God help the child."

God Help the Child - Toni Morrison