I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

To date, only 17 women have won the Nobel Prize in literature. One of them is Toni Morrison, whom the Nobel committee described as a writer “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” From the outset, Morrison was clearly unafraid to tackle weighty questions regarding society and race. Her first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” is centered around a victimized adolescent Black girl’s fixation on traditionally white standards of beauty and her subsequent longing to have blue eyes. Before her death in 2019, Morrison went on to write 10 more novels, including modern classics such as “Song of Solomon,” “Beloved,” and “Jazz.” This quote comes from the latter, which largely deals with themes of passion and obsession, and reminds us that true, healthy love lifts us up and strengthens us.