Our crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it.
JAMES BALDWINOur crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it.
JAMES BALDWINLiterature is indispensable to the world.
JAMES BALDWINFor these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for what they become.
JAMES BALDWINIf you’re treated a certain way you become a certain kind of person.
JAMES BALDWINThe artistic image is not intended to represent the thing itself, but, rather, the reality of the force the thing contains.
JAMES BALDWINGenerations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.
JAMES BALDWINThe 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 BALDWINMost of us, no matter what we say, are walking in the dark, whistling in the dark.
JAMES BALDWINEveryone 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.
JAMES BALDWINLove 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 BALDWINNothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch.
JAMES BALDWINThe impossible is the least that one can demand.
JAMES BALDWINEverybody’s journey is individual.
JAMES BALDWINIf 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.
JAMES BALDWINFreedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.
JAMES BALDWINI often wonder what I’d do if there weren’t any books in the world.
JAMES BALDWIN