At once the ideal introduction to Toni Morrison and a lovely and moving keepsake for her devoted readers: a treasury of quotations from her work. With a foreword by Zadie Smith.

This inspirational book juxtaposes quotations, one to a page, drawn from Toni Morrison's entire body of work, both fiction and nonfiction --- from THE BLUEST EYE to GOD HELP THE CHILD, from PLAYING IN THE DARK to THE SOURCE OF SELF-REGARD --- to tell a story of self-actualization. It aims to evoke the totality of Toni Morrison's literary vision.

Its compelling sequence of flashes of revelation --- stunning for their linguistic originality, keenness of psychological observation and philosophical profundity --- addresses issues of abiding interest in Morrison's work: the reach of language for the ineffable; transcendence through imagination; the self and its discontents; the vicissitudes of love; the whirligig of memory; the singular power of women; the original American sin of slavery; the bankruptcy of racial oppression; the complex humanity and art of black people. THE MEASURE OF OUR LIVES brims with elegance of style and mind and moral authority.