The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world’s definitions.
JAMES BALDWINNothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch.
More James Baldwin Quotes
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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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No man is a devil in his own mind.
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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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All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique.
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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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Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.
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People don’t have any mercy. They tear you limb from limb, in the name of love.
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Artists are here to disturb the peace.
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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.
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If I am not what you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.
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The world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare.
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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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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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For these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for what they become.
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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