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James Baldwin Quotes

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Famous James Baldwin Quotes

“Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by those doing it.”

Humor Science

Author:James Baldwin

“I know that people can be better than they are. We are capable of bearing a great burden, once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is.”

People Life Reality Goodness Self Awareness Burdens

Book:The Fire Next Time

Source: The Fire Next Time

“How can one be prepared for the spittle in the face, all the tireless ingenuity which goes into the spite and fear of small, unutterably miserable people, whose greatest terror is the singular identity, whose joy, whose safety, is entirely dependent on the humiliation and anguish of others?”

Hate

Book:This Morning, This Evening, So Soon

Source: This Morning, This Evening, So Soon

“Much has been written of love turning to hatred, of the heart growing cold with the death of love. It is a remarkable process. It is far more terrible than anything I have ever read about it, more terrible than anything I will ever be able to say.”

Love Hate Terrible Sad Hatred James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Love To Hate

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own-which it is-and render impassable with our bodies the corridors to the gas chamber. For if they come for you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.”

Values Politics Human Rights Activism Solidarity Xenophobia

Author:James Baldwin

“The subtle and deadly change of heart that might occur in you would be involved with the realization that a civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

Evil Apathy Cowardice

Book:The Fire Next Time

Source: The Fire Next Time

“Many have given up. They stay home and watch the TV screen, living on the earnings of their parents, cousins, bothers, or uncles, and only leave the house to go to the movies or to the nearest bar. "How're you making it?" on may ask, running into them along the block, or in the bar. "Oh, I'm TV-ing it"; with the saddest, sweetest, most shamefaced of smiles, and from a great distance. This distance one is compelled to respect; anyone who has traveled so far will not easily be dragged again into the world. There are further retreats, of course, than the TV screen or the bar. There are those who are simply sitting on their stoops, "stoned," animated for a moment only, and hideously, by the approach of someone who may lend them the money for a "fix." Or by the approach of someone from whom they can purchase it, one of the shrewd ones, on the way to prison or just coming out.”

Giving Up Apathy Escapism 57

Book:Nobody Knows My Name

Source: Nobody Knows My Name

“The question is really a kind of apathy and ignorance, which is the price we pay for segregation. That’s what segregation means. You don’t know what’s happening on the other side of the wall, because you don’t want to know.”

Ignorance Civil Rights Apathy Race Relations Segragation Wilful Ignorance

Book:I Am Not Your Negro

Source: I Am Not Your Negro

About the Author

Known for: Author
Quotes: 158

Books & Sources

Giovanni’s RoomRelated source material

The Fire Next TimeRelated source material

If Beale Street Could TalkRelated source material

Notes of a Native SonRelated source material

Go Tell it on the Mountain (Penguin Modern Classics) by James Baldwin (4-Oct-2001) PaperbackRelated source material

Just Above My HeadRelated source material

Another CountryRelated source material

Go Tell It on the MountainRelated source material

Nobody Knows My NameRelated source material

Nothing PersonalRelated source material