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.
JAMES BALDWINGuilt is a luxury that we can no longer afford.
More James Baldwin Quotes
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The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat.
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There is a fearful splendor in absolute desolation.
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If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.
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People can’t, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents.
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You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason.
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The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in.
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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.
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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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To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.
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Everybody’s journey is individual.
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Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart; for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
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People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
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Those kids aren’t dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure they don’t get smart: they are really teaching the kids to be slaves.
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We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them.
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Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore.
JAMES BALDWIN