There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain.
JAMES BALDWINNakedness has no color: this can come as news only to those who have never covered, or been covered by, another naked human being.
More James Baldwin Quotes
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Trust life, and it will teach you, in joy and sorrow, all you need to know.
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The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.
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True rebels after all, are as rare as true lovers,and in both cases, to mistake a fever for passion can destroy one’s life.
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The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.
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There is a fearful splendor in absolute desolation.
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Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?
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Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore.
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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.
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The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
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Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.
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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.
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Most of us, no matter what we say, are walking in the dark, whistling in the dark.
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Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it. Everyone desires love but also finds it impossible to believe that he deserves it.
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It’s a miracle to realize that somebody loves you.
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You don’t have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back.
JAMES BALDWIN