James A. Baldwin Quotes About Books

Quotes about: Books

• It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.

  James A. Baldwin

  Book, Writing, People

  The New York Times, June 1, 1964.

• God be thanked for books! They are the voices of the distant and the dead.

  James A. Baldwin

  Book, Voice

• I started reading. I read everything I could get my hands on...By the time I was thirteen I had read myself out of Harlem. I had read every book in two libraries and had a card for the Forty-Second Street branch.

  James A. Baldwin

  Book, Reading, Hands

• When the book comes out it may hurt you - but in order for me to do it, it had to hurt me first. I can only tell you about yourself as much as I can face about myself.

  James A. Baldwin

  Hurt, Book, Reading

• I often wonder what I'd do if there weren't any books in the world.

  James A. Baldwin

  Book, World, Wonder

• Years ago, when he was around fourteen, he'd been all hipped on the idea of going to India. He read books about people sitting on rocks, naked, in all kinds of weather, but mostly bad, naturally, and walking barefoot through hot coals and arriving at wisdom. I used to say that it sounded to me as though they were getting away from wisdom as fast as they could. I think he sort of looked down on me for that.

  James A. Baldwin

  Book, Thinking, Rocks

• You go into a book and you're in the dark, really. You go in with a certain fear and trembling. You know one thing. You know you will not be the same person when this voyage is over. But you don't know what's going to happen to you between getting on the boat and stepping off.

  James A. Baldwin

  Book, Dark, Voyages

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