James A. Baldwin Quotes - Page 6

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• But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power.

  James A. Baldwin

  Power, Morality, Subtle

  21 Copy quote

• 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.

  James A. Baldwin

  Brother, Mean, Reality

  "The Fire Next Time". Book by James A. Baldwin, 1963.

  54 Copy quote

• When the white man came to Africa, the white man had the Bible and the African had the land, but now it is the white man who is being, reluctantly and bloodily, separated from the land, and the African who is still attempting to digest or to vomit up the Bible.

  James A. Baldwin

  Men, White Man, Land

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James A. Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

  12 Copy quote

• People can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.

  James A. Baldwin

  People, Giving, Parent

  19 Copy quote

• 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. And at such a moment, unable to see and not daring to imagine what the future will now bring forth, one clings to what one knew, or dreamed that one possessed. Yet, it is only when a man is able, without bitterness or self-pity, to surrender a dream he has long cherished or a privilege he has long possessed that he is set free - he has set himself free - for higher dreams, for greater privileges.

  James A. Baldwin

  Breakup, Dream, Real

  "Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son". Book by James A. Baldwin, 1961.

  5 Copy quote

• It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death-- ought to decide, indeed, to earn one's death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us.

  James A. Baldwin

  Passion, Darkness, Sake

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

  11 Copy quote

• For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness.

  James A. Baldwin

  Light, Darkness, Black

  15 Copy quote

• People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state on innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.

  James A. Baldwin

  Eye, Reality, Long

  "Black Body: Rereading James Baldwin's 'Stranger in the Village'" by Teju Cole, www.newyorker.com. August 19, 2014.

  8 Copy quote

• When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.

  James A. Baldwin

  Men, Thinking, Order

  "Clemenceau, The Events of His Life as Told by Himself to His Former Secretary, Jean Martet". Book translated by Milton Waldman. Chapter 12: "Conversation with Jean Martet", 1930.

  55 Copy quote

• Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes.

  James A. Baldwin

  Change, Self, Giving

  "The Devil Finds Work". Book by James A. Baldwin, 1976.

  16 Copy quote

• Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.

  James A. Baldwin

  Work, Men, Fire

  106 Copy quote

• There are too many things we do not wish to know about ourselves.

  James A. Baldwin

  Wish, Knows

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind". www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

  4 Copy quote

• The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.

  James A. Baldwin

  Men, White Man, Justice

  21 Copy quote

• 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 A. Baldwin

  Change, Breakup, Real

  "Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son". Book by James A. Baldwin, 1961.

  14 Copy quote

• 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.

  James A. Baldwin

  Religious, Use, Validity

  New Yorker 17 Nov. 1962 "Down at the Cross"

  15 Copy quote

• To defend oneself against a fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.

  James A. Baldwin

  Life, One Day, Oneself

  9 Copy quote

• If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water, fire next time.

  James A. Baldwin

  Song, Time, Fire

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

  4 Copy quote

• And love will simply have no choice but to go into battle with space and time, and furthermore, to win.

  James A. Baldwin

  Winning, Space, Choices

  16 Copy quote

• 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.

  James A. Baldwin

  Believe, Desire Love, Wish

  7 Copy quote

• No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it.

  James A. Baldwin

  People, Culture, Literature

  17 Copy quote

• Everything in life depends on how that life accepts its limits.

  James A. Baldwin

  Life, Acceptance, Limits

  7 Copy quote

• A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven.

  James A. Baldwin

  Artist, Heaven, Assuming

  13 Copy quote

• One can only face in others what one can face in oneself.

  James A. Baldwin

  Relationship, Faces, Oneself

  5 Copy quote

• A writer has to take all the risks of putting down what he sees.

  James A. Baldwin

  Risk

  17 Copy quote

• Great art can only be created out of love.

  James A. Baldwin

  Art, Artist, Great Art

  10 Copy quote

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