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“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”

Source: Nobel Lecture, Stockholm, 7 December 1993

Context Accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Black woman to receive it, Morrison built her lecture around a fable of an old blind woman questioned by young visitors.

Portrait of Toni Morrison
Toni MorrisonUnited States · 1931–2019
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