All James A. Baldwin Quotes
- But, when the chips are down, its better to be furious with someone you love, or frightened for someone you love, than be put through… Ashamed
- There are few things under heaven more unnerving than the silent, accumulating contempt and hatred of a people. Accumulating
- Passion is not friendly. It is arrogant, superbly contemptuous of all that is not itself, and, as they very definition of passion implies the impulse… All
- There is a fearful splendor in absolute desolation. Absolute
- The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat. Able
- No man is a devil in his own mind. Devil
- The impossible is the least that one can demand. Demand
- People don't have any mercy. They tear you limb from limb, in the name of love. Then, when you're dead, when they've killed you by… Any
- It comes as a great shock…to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance…has not pledged allegiance to you. It comes as a… Allegiance
- The American ideal is, after all, that everyone should be as much alike as possible. Alike
- Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority… Believe
- In my case, I think my exile saved my life, for it inexorably confirmed something which Americans appear to have great difficulty accepting. Which is,… Able
- There are too many things we do not wish to know about ourselves. People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal (equal, after… All
- For these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for whatthey become. All
- To hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first . . . acceptance totally without rancor, of life… Accept
- Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us be free if we would listen, that he would never be… Free
- Heavenly witnesses are a tricky lot, to be used by whoever is closest to Heaven at the time. And legend and theology, which are designed… Aspiration
- Those kids aren't dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure they don't get smart: they are really teaching the kids… Dumb
- Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind. Blind
- When you're writing you're trying to find out something which you don't know. Find
- You write in order to change the world ... if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can… Alter
- The determination to outwit one's situation means that one has no models, only object lessons. Determination
- You took the best, so why not take the rest? Best
- I prefer sinners and madmen, who can learn, who can change, who can teach-or people like myself, if I may say so, who are not… Afraid
- The writer's only real task: to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art Art