black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

No one is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart: for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.

James Baldwin

There are few things under heaven more unnerving than the silent, accumulating contempt and hatred of a people.
JAMES BALDWIN

Hatred Heaven People Silence
I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.
JAMES BALDWIN

Believe Inspirational Judgement One Liner Success
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
JAMES BALDWIN

Enemy Ferocious Ignorance Justice Power
Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety.
JAMES BALDWIN

Breakup World Change Identity Real Safety
History is not a procession of illustrious people. It’s about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about.
JAMES BALDWIN

Happen History Million Past People
All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique.
JAMES BALDWIN

Art Confession Oblique One Liner
The artistic image is not intended to represent the thing itself, but, rather, the reality of the force the thing contains.
JAMES BALDWIN

Art Force Reality Represent
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.
JAMES BALDWIN

Situation Threat Victim Women
It is astonishing the lengths to which a person, or a people, will go in order to avoid a truthful mirror.
JAMES BALDWIN

Mirror People Person Truth
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 BALDWIN

Deal Fear Hate Imagination Pain People Reason
Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.
JAMES BALDWIN

Expensive Life Poverty Struggle
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.
JAMES BALDWIN

Consicious I Love You Love Lover Role
It is easy to proclaim all souls equal in the sight of God; it is hard to make men equal on earth in the sight of men.
JAMES BALDWIN

Claim Earth Equality God Men Sight Soul
Perhaps he is a fool or a coward but almost everybody is one or the other and most people are both.
JAMES BALDWIN

Coward Fools Man People Truth
Nakedness has no color: this can come as news only to those who have never covered, or been covered by, another naked human being.
JAMES BALDWIN

Colour Human Naked Sex
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 BALDWIN

Pain People Suffering
People don’t have any mercy. They tear you limb from limb, in the name of love.
JAMES BALDWIN

Disappointment Hurt Limb Love Mercy People
It’s a miracle to realize that somebody loves you.
JAMES BALDWIN

Dreamss Love Magic Miracle One Liner
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.
JAMES BALDWIN

Battle Beginning Grow Love Thinking War
Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch.
JAMES BALDWIN

Affliction Crutch Desire Frightened Release
Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.
JAMES BALDWIN

Attachment Condition Home One Liner Peace Place
The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.
JAMES BALDWIN

Art Hide Purpose
There is a fearful splendor in absolute desolation.
JAMES BALDWIN

Absolute Desolation Fear One Liner Splendor
If you’re treated a certain way you become a certain kind of person.
JAMES BALDWIN

Deep Insult One Liner Person Respect Treat
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
JAMES BALDWIN

History Hurt One Liner Past People Trapped
Artists are here to disturb the peace.
JAMES BALDWIN

Art Artist Disturb One Liner Peace
Colour is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality.
JAMES BALDWIN

Black Lives Matter Colour Human One Liner Politics Reality

No one is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart: for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

No one is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart: for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More James Baldwin Quotes