All James A. Baldwin Quotes
- I was guilty and irritated and full of love and pain. I wanted to kick him and I wanted to take him in my arms. Arms
- Well,’ I said, ‘Paris is old, is many centuries. You feel, in Paris, all the time gone by. That isn’t what you feel in New… All
- You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. Heartbreak
- Sometimes you hear a person speak the truth and you know that they are speaking the truth. But you also know that they have not… Hear
- One writes out of one thing only--one's own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this experience the last drop, sweet or bitter,… Art
- It must be remembered that in those great days I was considered to be an "integrationist" - this was never, quite, my own idea of… Absolutely
- The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious… Artist
- The place in which I'll fit will not exist until I make it. Exist
- People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness,… Another Kind
- I don't know, now, when I first looked at Hella and found her stale, found her body uninteresting, her presence grating. It seemed to happen… All
- There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that *they*… Accept
- Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated – in the main, abominably – because they are human beings who cause to… Abominably
- For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea… Acceptance
- I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument,… Awful
- I often wonder what I'd do if there weren't any books in the world. Any
- He leaned up a little and watched her face. Her face would now be, forever, more mysterious and impenetrable than the face of any stranger.… All
- There are people in the world for whom "coming along" is a perpetual process, people who are destined never to arrive. Along
- People are too various to be treated so lightly. I am too various to be trusted. Lightly
- We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them -- to try to understand what you have done, why you have… Able
- There are too many things we do not wish to know about ourselves. Funny
- It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the… Able
- But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power. Inspirational
- I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself. Encountered
- Rage cannot be hidden, it can only be dissembled. This dissembling deludes the thoughtless, and strengthens rage and adds, to rage, contempt. Add
- Rage can only with difficulty, and never entirely, be brought under the domination of the intelligence, and therefore is not susceptible to any arguments whatsoever. Anger