--- title: "4 Bare feet Quotes By Toni Morrison" description: "4 Bare feet quotes by Toni Morrison. Plus more from Toni Morrison and more Bare feet sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdc/toni-morrison-271_african-american_after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-s_940885.jpg" --- > [“After situating herself on a huge flat-sided rock, Baby Suggs bowed her head and prayed silently. The company watched her from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-sided-rock-baby-suggs-bowed/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdc/toni-morrison-271_african-american_after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-s_940885.jpg) > [“In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-this-here-place-we-flesh-flesh-that-weeps-laughs-flesh-that-dances/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_in-this-here-place-we-flesh-flesh-that-w_1790862.jpg) > [“When warm weather came, Baby Suggs, holy, followed by every black man, woman, and child who could make it through, took her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/when-warm-weather-came-baby-suggs-holy-followed-by-every-black-man/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/toni-morrison-271_african-american-spi_when-warm-weather-came-baby-suggs-holy-f_2249838.jpg) > [“She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/she-told-them-that-the-only-grace-they-could-have-was-the-grace-they/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02b/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_she-told-them-that-the-only-grace-they-c_3218116.jpg) ## 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/bare-feet/toni-morrison/#itemlist", "name": "4 Bare feet Quotes By Toni Morrison", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“After situating herself on a huge flat-sided rock, Baby Suggs bowed her head and prayed silently. The company watched her from the trees. They knew she was ready when she put her stick down. Then she shouted, 'Let the children come!' and they ran from the trees toward her. 'Let your mothers hear you laugh,' she told them, and the woods rang. The adults looked on and could not help smiling. Then 'Let the grown men come,' she shouted. They stepped out one by one from among the ringing trees. 'Let your wives and your children see you dance,' she told them, and groundlife shuddered under their feet. Finally she called the women to her. 'Cry,' she told them. 'For the living and the dead. Just cry.' And without covering their eyes the women let loose. It started that way: laughing children, dancing men, crying women and then it got mixed up. Women stopped crying and danced; men sat down and cried; children danced, women laughed, children cried until, exhausted and riven, all and each lay about the Clearing damp and gasping for breath. In the silence that followed, Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart. She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure. She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it. 'Here,' she said, 'in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don't love your eyes; they'd just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. These they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face 'cause they don't love that either. You got to love it, you! And nom they ain't in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I'm telling you. And O my people, out yonder, hear me, they do not love your neck unnoosed and straight. So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up. And all your inside parts that they'd just as soon slop for hogs, you got to love them. The dark, dark liver-love it, love it, and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet. More than lungs that have yet to draw free air. More than your life-holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Toni Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-sided-rock-baby-suggs-bowed/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdc/toni-morrison-271_african-american_after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-s_940885.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdc/toni-morrison-271_african-american_after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-s_940885.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdc/toni-morrison-271_african-american_after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-s_940885.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“After situating herself on a huge flat-sided rock, Baby Suggs bowed her head and prayed silently. The…” — Toni Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don't love your eyes; they'd just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face 'cause they don't love that either. You got to love it, you! And no, they ain't in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give you leavins instead. No, they don't love your mouth. You got to love it. This is flesh I'm talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I'm telling you. And O my people, out yonder, hear me, they do not love your neck unnoosed and straight. So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up. and all your inside parts that they'd just as soon slop for hogs, you got to love them. The dark, dark liver--love it, love it and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet. More than lungs that have yet to draw free air. More than your life-holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Toni Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-this-here-place-we-flesh-flesh-that-weeps-laughs-flesh-that-dances/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_in-this-here-place-we-flesh-flesh-that-w_1790862.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_in-this-here-place-we-flesh-flesh-that-w_1790862.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_in-this-here-place-we-flesh-flesh-that-w_1790862.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it…” — Toni Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When warm weather came, Baby Suggs, holy, followed by every black man, woman, and child who could make it through, took her great heart to the Clearing--a wide-open place cut deep in the woods nobody knew for what at the end of the path known only to deer and whoever cleared the land in the first place. In the heat of every Saturday afternoon, she sat in the clearing while the people waited among the trees. After situating herself on a huge flat-sided rock, Baby Suggs bowed her head and prayed silently. The company watched her from the trees. They knew she was ready when she put her stick down. Then she shouted, 'Let the children come!' and they ran from the trees toward her. Let your mothers hear you laugh,' she told them, and the woods rang. The adults looked on and could not help smiling. Then 'Let the grown men come,' she shouted. They stepped out one by one from among the ringing trees. Let your wives and your children see you dance,' she told them, and groundlife shuddered under their feet. Finally she called the women to her. 'Cry,' she told them. 'For the living and the dead. Just cry.' And without covering their eyes the women let loose. It started that way: laughing children, dancing men, crying women and then it got mixed up. Women stopped crying and danced; men sat down and cried; children danced, women laughed, children cried until, exhausted and riven, all and each lay about the Clearing damp and gasping for breath. In the silence that followed, Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart. She did not tell them to clean up their lives or go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure. She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it. Here,' she said, 'in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Toni Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/when-warm-weather-came-baby-suggs-holy-followed-by-every-black-man/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/toni-morrison-271_african-american-spi_when-warm-weather-came-baby-suggs-holy-f_2249838.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/toni-morrison-271_african-american-spi_when-warm-weather-came-baby-suggs-holy-f_2249838.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/toni-morrison-271_african-american-spi_when-warm-weather-came-baby-suggs-holy-f_2249838.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When warm weather came, Baby Suggs, holy, followed by every black man, woman, and child who could make it…” — Toni Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it. \"Here,\" she said, \"in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don’t love your eyes; they'd just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face 'cause they don't love that either. You got to love it, you! And no, they ain't in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give you leavins instead. No, they don't love your mouth. You got to love it. This is flesh I'm talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I'm telling you. And O my people, out yonder, hear me, they do not love your neck unnoosed and straight. So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up. And all your inside parts that they'd just as soon slop for hogs, you got to love them. The dark, dark liver--love it, love it, and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet.More than lungs that have yet to draw free air. More than your life holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize.\" Saying no more, she stood up then and danced with her twisted hip the rest of what her heart had to say while the others opened heir mouths and gave her the music.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Toni Morrison" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/she-told-them-that-the-only-grace-they-could-have-was-the-grace-they/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02b/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_she-told-them-that-the-only-grace-they-c_3218116.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02b/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_she-told-them-that-the-only-grace-they-c_3218116.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02b/toni-morrison-271_bare-feet_she-told-them-that-the-only-grace-they-c_3218116.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not…” — Toni Morrison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/toni-morrison/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/toni-morrison/", "name": "Bare feet Quotes by Toni Morrison", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/toni-morrison/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdc/toni-morrison-271_african-american_after-situating-herself-on-a-huge-flat-s_940885.jpg" }, "description": "4 Bare feet quotes by Toni Morrison. Plus more from Toni Morrison and more Bare feet sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/toni-morrison/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/toni-morrison/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Bare Feet", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Toni Morrison", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-feet/toni-morrison/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```