Unless a writer is extremely old when he dies, in which case he has probably become a neglected institution, his death must always seem untimely.
JAMES A. BALDWINIt is very nearly impossible… to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.
More James A. Baldwin Quotes
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For these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for whatthey become.
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It is astonishing the lengths to which a person, or a people, will go in order to avoid a truthful mirror.
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I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.
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Be careful what you set your heart upon – for it will surely be yours.
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There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.
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I must oppose any attempt that Negroes may make to do to others what has been done to them. . . . I know the spiritual wasteland to which that road leads . . . whoever debases others is debasing himself.
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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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The writer’s greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all.
JAMES A. BALDWIN -
It is very nearly impossible… to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.
JAMES A. BALDWIN -
Remember, to hate, to be violent, is demeaning. It means you’re afraid of the other side of the coin — to love and be loved.
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If the word ‘integration’ means anything, this is what it means that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.
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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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The wretched of the earth do not decide to become extinct, they resolve, on the contrary, to multiply: life is their weapon against life, life is all that they have.
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If you think too far ahead, if you even try to think too far ahead, you’ll never make it.
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A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled.
JAMES A. BALDWIN