Toni Morrison, a renowned American novelist, essayist, editor, and professor, is celebrated for her profound literary works that explore the complexities of race, gender, and identity. One of her most influential novels, “Sula,” delves into the lives of two African-American women, Sula and Nel, and their complex relationship over the course of several decades. Throughout the novel, Morrison beautifully crafts words that resonate with readers, capturing the essence of human emotions and experiences. In this article, we will delve into some of the most powerful and thought-provoking quotes from “Sula” by Toni Morrison.
Read these Toni Morrison Sula quotes:
1.
“Lonely was much better than alone.”
2.
“All that time, all that energy, wasted on love. Love was not safe. Love was heartbreak, vulnerability, and pain.”
3.
“Lonely, ain’t it? Yes, but my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else’s. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain’t that something? A secondhand lonely.”
4.
“In a way, her strangeness, her naïveté, her craving for the other half of her equation was the consequence of an idle imagination. Had she paints, or clay, or knew the discipline of the dance, or strings; had she anything to engage her tremendous curiosity and her gift for metaphor, she might have exchanged the restlessness and preoccupation with whim for an activity that provided her with all she yearned for. And like any artist with no art form, she became dangerous.”
5.
“What was taken by outsiders to be slackness, slovenliness, or even generosity was in fact a full recognition of the legitimacy of forces other than good ones. They did not believe doctors could heal—for them, none ever had done so. They did not believe death was accidental—life might be, but death was deliberate. They did not believe Nature was ever askew—only inconvenient. Plague and drought were as ‘natural’ as springtime. If milk could curdle, God knows that robins could fall and babies choke on the dust storm. God was not interested in the fall of a sparrow. God did not make the accident; it was by His order that John Smith should choke on a chunk of gristle, and it was by His order that Shadrack should be scared into madness. People who believed that God was white also believed that whites were a regular law-abiding set of decent folk, not overburdened by natural failings.”
6.
“She had no center, no speck around which to grow. She was the one who didn’t walk around the edges of the dance floor but turned and ran right through the crowded middle where everybody could see, bumping into people, stepping on toes, and knocking things over. She caused untidy disruptions and had no idea how to put them right.”
7.
“Nel was the one who stroked the heads and wiped the noses, who fed the children and mended the clothes. It was she who decided what would be planted and what would be saved, and who made certain that the children knew where they came from and where they were going.”
8.
“She was completely free, constantly searching for something else, something better, something truer. She was always in motion and always staking her claim. She was always hungry and always full. She was always tender, always soothing, always giving, always needing. And she was always hers.”
9.
“She was the only one in the neighborhood who had time, and the vitality for individual attention; she alone sold her children to the rich white folks, and they were so grateful for the trade that they let her go with their thanks and presents.”
10.
“It had occurred to Sula that the only way to avoid the pain of loss was to avoid the love that inspired it. Yet, in her twenties, when her friendship with Nel Wright grew stronger and more fulfilling, Sula had to concede that she was wrong. To love anything good, at any cost, is a bargain.”
11.
“I don’t want to make somebody else. I want to make myself.”
12.
“Her own loneliness had always been an indulgence she allowed herself, but now it felt like an imposition on her friends.”
13.
“Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous.”
14.
“But their conviction of Sula’s evil changed them in accountable yet mysterious ways. Once the source of their personal misfortune was identified, they had leave to protect and love one another. They began to cherish their husbands and wives, protect their children, repair their homes, and in general band together against the devil in their midst.”
15.
“She didn’t care what people said about her because she knew none of it was true.”
16.
“She didn’t like the idea of having another person’s dreams floating in her head and settling on her like ash.”
17.
“What you do to children matters. And they might never forget.”
18.
“She had to be careful of her hands because touching her face might break her fingers.”
19.
“She was completely free, constantly searching for something else, something better, something truer.”
20.
“She was a friend of my mind. She gathered me, man. The pieces I am, she gathered them and gave them back to me in all the right order.”
These quotes from Toni Morrison’s “Sula” encapsulate the depth and power of her writing. They invite readers to reflect on themes of loneliness, love, freedom, identity, and the consequences of our actions. Morrison’s ability to capture the complexity of human emotions and experiences is truly remarkable and continues to resonate with readers around the world.
