« All Men Quotes · James A. Baldwin's Page
Men Quotes by James A. Baldwin
- The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions.
- Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.
- Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even…
- I want to be an honest man and a good writer.
- 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.…
- 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…
- The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.
- The real victim of bigotry is the white man who hides his weakness under his myth of superiority.
- He may be a very nice man. But I haven't got the time to figure that out. All I know is, he's got a uniform…
- The civilized have created the wretched, quite coldly and deliberately, and do not intend to change the status quo; are responsible for their slaughter and…
- I am aware that no man is a villain in his own eyes.
- When the white man came to Africa, the white man had the Bible and the African had the land, but now it is the white…
- Ask any Mexican, any Puerto Rican, any black man, any poor person - ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and…
- The establishment of democracy on the American continent was scarcely as radical a break with the past as was the necessity, which Americans faced, of…
- It is a very rare man who does not victimize the helpless.
- An American Negro, however deep his sympathies, or however bright his rage, ceases to be simply a black man when he faces a black man…
- No man is a devil in his own mind.
- 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,…
- To hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first . . . acceptance totally without rancor, of life…
- All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within,…
- It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them as…
- America sometimes resembles, at least from the point of view of a black man, an exceedingly monotonous minstrel show; the same dances, same music, same…
- It will be hard James but you come from sturdy peasant stock men who picked cotton and dammed rivers and built railroads and in the…
- I'm not interested in anybody's guilt. Guilt is a luxury that we can no longer afford. I know you didn't do it, and I didn't…
More Men Quotes
- Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being. — Hannah Arendt
- The ultimate end of human acts is eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all acts are… — Hannah Arendt
- Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in… — Hannah Arendt
- Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want… — Pietro Aretino
- I am a free man. I do not need to copy Petrarca or Boccaccio. My own genius is enough. Let others worry… — Pietro Aretino
- Let each man exercise the art he knows. — Aristophanes
- A man's homeland is wherever he prospers. — Aristophanes
- Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of… — Aristophanes
- My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. — Aristotle
- Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. — Aristotle
- At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst. — Aristotle
- Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes… — Aristotle