--- title: "3 Ants Quotes By Toni Morrison" description: "3 Ants quotes by Toni Morrison. Plus more from Toni Morrison and more Ants sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79b/toni-morrison-271_ants_sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-s_647562.jpg" --- > [Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-spring-saturday-i-split-the/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79b/toni-morrison-271_ants_sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-s_647562.jpg) > [“The hills below crouched on all fours under the weight of the rainforest where liana grew and soldier ants marched in formation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/the-hills-below-crouched-on-all-fours-under-the-weight-of-the/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a4/toni-morrison-271_hard-to-forget_the-hills-below-crouched-on-all-fours-un_1242013.jpg) > [Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/who-s-got-game-the-ant-or-the-grasshopper-the-lion-or-the-mouse-poppy/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/201/toni-morrison-271_ants_who-s-got-game-the-ant-or-the-grasshoppe_2847659.jpg) ## Other authors on Ants - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-e-o-wilson-31102.jpg) E. O. Wilson 20 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/e-o-wilson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-henry-david-thoreau-41473.jpg) Henry David Thoreau 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/henry-david-thoreau/) - [Mehmet Murat Ildan 8 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/mehmet-murat-ildan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-lewis-thomas-60052.jpg) Lewis Thomas 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/lewis-thomas/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b012/author-jack-handey-45418.jpg) Jack Handey 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/jack-handey/) ## More by Toni Morrison > [Perhaps that's what all human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/perhaps-that-s-what-all-human-relationships-boiled-down-to-would-you/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-times-of-dread-artists-must-never-choose-to-remain-silent/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“Not know it was hard;knowing it was harder”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/not-know-it-was-hard-knowing-it-was-harder/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“Didn’t everything on God’s earth have or acquire defense?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/didn-t-everything-on-god-s-earth-have-or-acquire-defense/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [If you can't count, they can cheat you. If you can't read, they can beat you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/if-you-can-t-count-they-can-cheat-you-if-you-can-t-read-they-can-beat/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“You looked at them and wondered why the were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/you-looked-at-them-and-wondered-why-the-were-so-ugly-you-looked/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [All she saw, down in the cellar well beneath the stoop, was a light yellow feather with a tip of green. And she had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/all-she-saw-down-in-the-cellar-well-beneath-the-stoop-was-a-light/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [For me, Art is the restoration of order. It may discuss all sort of terrible things, but there must be satisfaction at the end.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/for-me-art-is-the-restoration-of-order-it-may-discuss-all-sort-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/to-sethe-the-future-was-a-matter-of-keeping-the-past-at-bay/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“Hate does that. Burns off everything but itself, so whatever your grievance is, your face looks just like your enemy's.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/hate-does-that-burns-off-everything-but-itself-so-whatever-your/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“You know how a star is supposed to twinkle? We say twinkle because that is how it looks, but when a star feels itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/you-know-how-a-star-is-supposed-to-twinkle-we-say-twinkle-because/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-is-no-bad-luck-in-the-world-but-whitefolks/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [My father saw two black men lynched on his street in Cartersville, as a child. And I think seeing two black businessmen - not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/my-father-saw-two-black-men-lynched-on-his-street-in-cartersville-as/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“She was fierce in the presence of death, heroic even, as she was at no other time. Its threat gave her direction, clarity, audacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/she-was-fierce-in-the-presence-of-death-heroic-even-as-she-was-at-no/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ants/toni-morrison/#itemlist", "name": "3 Ants Quotes By Toni Morrison", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants and peach pits and death and where the world went when I closed my eyes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Toni Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-spring-saturday-i-split-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79b/toni-morrison-271_ants_sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-s_647562.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79b/toni-morrison-271_ants_sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-s_647562.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79b/toni-morrison-271_ants_sunk-in-the-grass-of-an-empty-lot-on-a-s_647562.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants…” — Toni Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The hills below crouched on all fours under the weight of the rainforest where liana grew and soldier ants marched in formation. Straight ahead they marched, shamelessly single-minded, for soldier ants have no time for dreaming. Almost all of them are women and there is so much to do - the work is literally endless. So many to be born and fed, then found and buried. There is no time for dreaming. The life of their world requires organization so tight and sacrifice so complete there is little need for males and they are seldom produced. When they are needed, it is deliberately done by the queen who surmises, by some four-million-year-old magic she is heiress to, that it is time. So she urges a sperm from the private womb where they were placed when she had her one, first and last copulation. Once in life, this little Amazon trembled in the air waiting for a male to mount her. And when he did, when he joined a cloud of others one evening just before a summer storm, joined colonies from all over the world gathered fro the marriage flight, he knew at last what his wings were for. Frenzied, he flied into the humming cloud to fight gravity and time in order to do, just once, the single thing he was born for. Then he drops dead, having emptied his sperm into his lady-love. Sperm which she keeps in a special place to use at her own discretion when there is need for another dark and singing cloud of ant folk mating in the air. Once the lady has collected the sperm, she too falls to the ground, but unless she breaks her back or neck or is eaten by one of a thousand things, she staggers to her legs and looks for a stone to rub on, cracking and shedding the wings she will never need again. Then she begins her journey searching for a suitable place to build her kingdom. She crawls into the hollow of a tree, examines its walls and corners. She seals herself off from all society and eats her own wing muscles until she bears her eggs. When the first larvae appear, there is nothing to feed them, so she gives them their unhatched sisters until they are old enough and strong enough to hunt and bring their prey back to the kingdom. That is all. Bearing, hunting, eating, fighting, burying. No time for dreaming, although sometimes, late in life, somewhere between the thirtieth and fortieth generation she might get wind of a summer storm one day. The scent of it will invade her palace and she will recall the rush of wind on her belly - the stretch of fresh wings, the blinding anticipation and herself, there, airborne, suspended, open, trusting, frightened, determined, vulnerable - girlish, even, for and entire second and then another and another. She may lift her head then, and point her wands toward the place where the summer storm is entering her palace and in the weariness that ruling queens alone know, she may wonder whether his death was sudden. Or did he languish? And if so, if there was a bit of time left, did he think how mean the world was, or did he fill that space of time thinking of her? But soldier ants do not have time for dreaming. They are women and have much to do. Still it would be hard. So very hard to forget the man who fucked like a star.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Toni Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/the-hills-below-crouched-on-all-fours-under-the-weight-of-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a4/toni-morrison-271_hard-to-forget_the-hills-below-crouched-on-all-fours-un_1242013.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a4/toni-morrison-271_hard-to-forget_the-hills-below-crouched-on-all-fours-un_1242013.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a4/toni-morrison-271_hard-to-forget_the-hills-below-crouched-on-all-fours-un_1242013.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The hills below crouched on all fours under the weight of the rainforest where liana grew and soldier ants…” — Toni Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Who's Got Game? 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