James A. Baldwin Quotes

The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love... view

By: James A. Baldwin

You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself... view

By: James A. Baldwin

When one begins to live by habit and by quotation, one has begun to stop living... view

By: James A. Baldwin

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. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world.. view

By: James A. Baldwin

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread... view

By: James A. Baldwin

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time... view

By: James A. Baldwin

To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it... view

By: James A. Baldwin

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment.. view

By: James A. Baldwin

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 of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all... view

By: James A. Baldwin

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply.. view

By: James A. Baldwin

The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The face of a lover is an unknown, precisely because it is invested with so much of oneself. It is a mystery, containing, like all mysteries, the possibility of torment... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings... view

By: James A. Baldwin

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did - which was to hide... view

By: James A. Baldwin

The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in... view

By: James A. Baldwin

There is a "sanctity" involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor... view

By: James A. Baldwin

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time... view

By: James A. Baldwin

No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart.. view

By: James A. Baldwin

Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch... view

By: James A. Baldwin

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Be careful what you set your heart upon - for it will surely be yours... view

By: James A. Baldwin

American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it... view

By: James A. Baldwin

A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them... view

By: James A. Baldwin

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it... view

By: James A. Baldwin

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 labor into pleasant tasks... view

By: James A. Baldwin