James A. BaldwinThis is the charged, the dangerous moment, when everything must be re-examined, must be made new, when nothing at all can be taken for granted.361Time
James A. BaldwinFor nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.372Humanity
James A. BaldwinIt happened, as many things do, imperceptibly, in many ways at once. I date it - the slow crumbling of my faith, the pulverization of my fortress - from the time, about a year aft… ▶372HopeReadingTime
James A. BaldwinAllegiance, after all, has to work two ways; and one can grow weary of an allegiance which is not reciprocal.372Hope
James A. BaldwinAll over Harlem, Negro boys and girls are growing into stunted maturity, trying desperately to find a place to stand; and the wonder is not that so many are ruined but that so man… ▶372Hope
James A. BaldwinAll racists are irresponsible.373Humor
James A. BaldwinIt demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate. 373Thought
James A. BaldwinPassion is not friendly. It is arrogant, superbly contemptuous of all that is not itself, and, as they very definition of passion implies the impulse to freedom, it has a might in… ▶362HopeLovePolitics
James A. BaldwinThe writer's only real task: to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art351Life
James A. BaldwinI've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.373Thought
James A. BaldwinA person does not lightly elect to oppose his society. One would much rather be at home among one's compatriots than be mocked and detested by them. And there is a level on which … ▶351Humanity
James A. BaldwinPeople can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the … ▶352HumanityLifeLove
James A. BaldwinThere is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that *they* must accept *you*. The really terrible th… ▶374HumanityLove
James A. BaldwinRage can only with difficulty, and never entirely, be brought under the domination of the intelligence, and therefore is not susceptible to any arguments whatsoever.374Humanity
James A. BaldwinYou 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.341Philosophy
James A. BaldwinThe 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.352LifeThought
James A. BaldwinAny writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent. ✨ Notes of a Native Son. Book by … ▶374ReadingTime
James A. BaldwinPeople are continually pointing out to me the wretchedness of white people in order to console me for the wretchedness of blacks. But an itemized account of the American failure d… ▶374HumanityLifeTruth
James A. BaldwinThe miracle is that some have stepped out of the rags of the Republic's definition to assume the great burden and glory of their humanity and their responsibility for one another.… ▶342Humanity
James A. BaldwinTo be born in a free society and not to be born free is to be born into a lie. To be told by co-citizens and co-Christians that you have no value, no history, have never done anyt… ▶331Humanity
James A. BaldwinIf one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving. And, after all, one can give freedom only by setting someone free. ✨ Letter from a Region in My Mind. www… ▶364Thought
James A. BaldwinFor, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only lig… ▶353Humor
James A. BaldwinTo hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first . . . acceptance totally without rancor, of life as it is, and men as they are [;] . . . the seco… ▶353LifeThought
James A. BaldwinNo people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it.353Humanity
James A. BaldwinIt is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. ✨ No Name in the Street. Book by James A. Baldwin, 1972.342PoliticsReading
James A. BaldwinWhen the white man came to Africa, the white man had the Bible and the African had the land, but now it is the white man who is being, reluctantly and bloodily, separated from the… ▶375Thought
James A. BaldwinGreat art can only be created out of love.376Love
James A. BaldwinHe 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 and a gun and I have to relate to him that way. That's the only way to … ▶332DeathTimeTruth
James A. BaldwinThe relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others in order to end the racial nightm… ▶332Love
James A. BaldwinIf you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you're not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning i… ▶376Death
