--- title: "1 James Baldwin Quotes By Richard Rodriguez" description: "1 James Baldwin quotes by Richard Rodriguez. Plus more from Richard Rodriguez and more James Baldwin sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/richard-rodriguez-6515_beauty_most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-ther_579538.png" --- > [“Most, I loved James Baldwin's essays. There was to a Baldwin essay a metropolitan elegance I envied, a refusal of the livid. In Baldwin I found a readiness to rise to prophetic wrath, something like those ministers, and yet, once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-there-was-to-a-baldwin-essay-a/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/richard-rodriguez-6515_beauty_most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-ther_579538.png) ## Other authors on James Baldwin ## More by Richard Rodriguez > [“Human unhappiness is evidence of our immortality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/human-unhappiness-is-evidence-of-our-immortality/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [In the Sacramento of the 1950s, it was as though White simply hadn't had time enough to figure Brown out. It was a busy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/in-the-sacramento-of-the-1950s-it-was-as-though-white-simply-hadn-t/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Books should confuse. Literature abhors the typical. Literature flows to the particular, the mundane, the greasiness of paper, the taste of warm beer, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/books-should-confuse-literature-abhors-the-typical-literature-flows/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Mexico is sex and Canada is mind. There is much about Canada that I find admirable - the treatment of immigrants, for example, particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/mexico-is-sex-and-canada-is-mind-there-is-much-about-canada-that-i/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [My decision was sparked by affirmative action. There was a point in my life when affirmative action would have meant something to me -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/my-decision-was-sparked-by-affirmative-action-there-was-a-point-in-my/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Who knows what Yale thought it was getting when it hired Richard Rodriguez? The people who offered me the job thought there was nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/who-knows-what-yale-thought-it-was-getting-when-it-hired-richard/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [I have a good black friend who is a doctor, but he didn't become a doctor because he saw other black men who were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/i-have-a-good-black-friend-who-is-a-doctor-but-he-didn-t-become-a/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [In some ways I consider myself more Chinese, because I live in San Francisco, which is becoming a predominantly Asian city. I avoid falling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/in-some-ways-i-consider-myself-more-chinese-because-i-live-in-san/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [I think the universities have co-opted the intellectual, by and large. But there is an emerging intellectual set coming out of Washington think tanks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/i-think-the-universities-have-co-opted-the-intellectual-by-and-large/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [You don't know Mexico, man. You have trivialized Mexico. You are a fool about Mexico if you think that Mexico is five blocks. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/you-don-t-know-mexico-man-you-have-trivialized-mexico-you-are-a-fool/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [After the second chapter of Days of Obligation, which is about the death of a friend of mine from AIDS, was published in Harper's,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/after-the-second-chapter-of-days-of-obligation-which-is-about-the/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [What has happened in the last generation is that Tijuana has become a new Third World capital - much to the chagrin of Mexico…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/what-has-happened-in-the-last-generation-is-that-tijuana-has-become-a/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [We're looking at complexity. We're looking at blond kids in Beverley Hills who can speak Spanish because they have been raised by Guatemalan nannies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/we-re-looking-at-complexity-we-re-looking-at-blond-kids-in-beverley/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Intimacy is not trapped within words. It passes through words. It passes. The truth is that intimates leave the room. Doors close. Faces move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/intimacy-is-not-trapped-within-words-it-passes-through-words-it/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [For me, diversity is not a value. Diversity is what you find in Northern Ireland. Diversity is Beirut. Diversity is brother killing brother. Where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/for-me-diversity-is-not-a-value-diversity-is-what-you-find-in/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/#itemlist", "name": "1 James Baldwin Quotes By Richard Rodriguez", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Most, I loved James Baldwin's essays. There was to a Baldwin essay a metropolitan elegance I envied, a refusal of the livid. In Baldwin I found a readiness to rise to prophetic wrath, something like those ministers, and yet, once more, to bend down in tenderness, to call grown men and women \"baby\" (a whiff of the theater). Watching Baldwin on television—I will always consider the fifties to have been a sophisticated time—fixed for me what being a writer must mean. Arching eyebrows intercepted ironies, parenthetically declared fouls; mouthfuls of cigarette smoke shot forth ribbons of exactitude.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Rodriguez" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-there-was-to-a-baldwin-essay-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/richard-rodriguez-6515_beauty_most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-ther_579538.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/richard-rodriguez-6515_beauty_most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-ther_579538.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/richard-rodriguez-6515_beauty_most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-ther_579538.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Most, I loved James Baldwin's essays. There was to a Baldwin essay a metropolitan elegance I envied, a…” — Richard Rodriguez", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/", "name": "James Baldwin Quotes by Richard Rodriguez", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/richard-rodriguez-6515_beauty_most-i-loved-james-baldwin-s-essays-ther_579538.png" }, "description": "1 James Baldwin quotes by Richard Rodriguez. Plus more from Richard Rodriguez and more James Baldwin sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/#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": "James Baldwin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-baldwin/richard-rodriguez/" } ] }, { "@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 } } ] } ```