All James A. Baldwin Quotes
- Our dehumanization of the Negro then is indivisible from our dehumanization of ourselves; the loss of our own identity is the price we pay for… Annulment
- Not only was I not born to be a slave; I was not born to hope to become the equal of the slave master. Born
- The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of… Adopt
- Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of… Achievement
- It is a very grave matter to be forced to imitate a people for whom you know-which is the price of your performance and survival-you… Appears
- What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors. It's astounding to me, for example, that so many people… All
- If one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving. And, after all, one can give freedom only be setting someone free. All
- To be born in a free society and not to be born free is to be born into a lie. To be told by co-citizens… Beginning
- The miracle is that some have stepped out of the rags of the Republic's definition to assume the great burden and glory of their humanity… Achievement
- The real victim of bigotry is the white man who hides his weakness under his myth of superiority. Bigotry
- Words like 'freedom', 'justice' and 'democracy' are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It… All
- The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is… Become Conscious
- Everything in life depends on how that life accepts its limits. Acceptance
- Society is held together by our need; we bind it together with legend, myth, coercion, fearing that without it we will be hurled into that… Bind
- The trick is to love somebody.... If you love one person, you see everybody else differently. Differently
- When human rights are abused on a grand scale, the broth of purity boils and feeds the rebellion of a new order. Abused
- We take our shape, it is true, within and against that cage of reality bequeathed us at our birth; and yet it is precisely through… Bequeathed
- We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours. All
- If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the… Administered
- I am certainly convinced that it is one of the greatest impulses of mankind to arrive at something higher than a natural state. Arrive