All James A. Baldwin Quotes
I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.
James A. Baldwin in
Patriotism
51% of people like this quote
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.
James A. Baldwin
50% of people like this quote
When one begins to live by habit and by quotation, one has begun to stop living.
James A. Baldwin
50% of people like this quote
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.
James A. Baldwin
50% of people like this quote
Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned.
James A. Baldwin
50% of people like this quote
Be careful what you set your heart upon - for it will surely be yours.
James A. Baldwin
50% of people like this quote
American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.
James A. Baldwin
50% of people like this quote
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
James A. Baldwin
49% of people like this quote
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
James A. Baldwin in
History
48% of people like this quote
If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.
James A. Baldwin
48% of people like this quote
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
James A. Baldwin in
Love
48% of people like this quote
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.
James A. Baldwin
48% of people like this quote
The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
James A. Baldwin
48% of people like this quote
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
James A. Baldwin
48% of people like this quote
A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled.
James A. Baldwin
48% of people like this quote
Related authors