All James A. Baldwin Quotes
- The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid: the state of being alone. Actively
- Experience is a private, very largely speechless affair. Affair
- The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out. Break
- The future is like heaven-everyone exalts it but no one wants to go there now. Everyone
- To be with God is really to be involved in some enormous, overwhelming desire, and joy, and power which you cannot control, which controls you. Cannot Control
- Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance. All
- We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only sentient force which can change it. Change
- There exists among the intolerable degraded, the perverse and powerful desire to force into the arena of the actual those fantastic crimes of which they… Accused
- It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity… Charity
- It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in… Able
- Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it. Interrupted
- The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers. Answers
- Not everything that we face can be changed but nothing can be changed until it's faced. Changed
- Your crown has been bought and paid for. All you must do is put it on. All