All James A. Baldwin Quotes
- The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others. Asks
- The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory. Ambition
- The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in. Came
- The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did… All
- There is a 'sanctity' involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it. Baby
- To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger. Act
- You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long… Begin
- When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance.… Act
- Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will… Day
- It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who… Alive
- The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing… Armed
- The face of a lover is an unknown, precisely because it is invested with so much of oneself. It is a mystery, containing, like all… All
- There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes… Attention
- Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their… Beings
- The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs… All
- Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it… Discover
- An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience. Arrived
- Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it. Destroys
- In order to have a conversation with someone you must reveal yourself. Conversation
- The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross. Bible