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James Baldwin Quotes

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Famous James Baldwin Quotes

“He was waiting, I think, for me to cross that space and take him in my arms again—waiting, as one waits at a deathbed for the miracle one dare not disbelieve, which will not happen.”

Waiting Sad Simile James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Starcrossed Lovers

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“But she saw nothing in my eyes—she stared at me as though I had made a long journey on a white charger all the way to her prison house.”

Simile Gender Roles Romantic Relationship Miscommunication Knight In Shining Armor James Baldwin Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“He smiled, "Why, you will go home and then you will find that home is not home anymore. Then you will really be in trouble. As long as you stay here, you can always think: One day I will go home." He played with my thumb and grinned. "N'est-ce pas?" "Beautiful logic," I said. "You mean I have a home to go to as long as I don't go there?" He laughed. "Well, isn't it true? You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back.”

Home Dialogue Paradox James Baldwin Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“I loved her as much as ever and I still did not know how much that was.”

Love Relationship Confused Uncertain Romantic Relationship James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Conflicted

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“I do not know what I would do if you left me." For the first time I felt the suggestion of a threat in his voice—or I put it there. "I have been alone so long—I do not think I would be able to live if I had to be alone again.”

Relationship Threat Alone Suicidal Romantic Relationship James Baldwin Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“And with every step I took it became more impossible for me to turn back. And my mind was empty—or it was as though my mind had become one enormous, anaesthetized wound. I thought only, One day I'll weep for this. One of these days I'll start to cry.”

Sorrow Sad Leaving Grieving Numb No Turning Back James Baldwin Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“He was sobbing, it would have been said, as though his heart would break.”

Romance Sad Lgbt Lgbtq Giovanni S Room Heartbrook

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“No matter how it seems now, I must confess: I loved him. I do not think that I will ever love anyone like that again. And this might be a great relief if I did not also know that, when the knife has fallen, Giovanni, if he feels anything will feel relief.”

Love Sad Relief Confession Declaration Of Love One True Love James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Never Again One And Only

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“I had to get out of there for my face showed too much, the war in my body was dragging me down. My feet refused to carry me over to him again. The wind of my life was blowing me away.”

Life Sad Separation Breakup Goodbye Inner Turmoil James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Leave Taking

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“On each piece of paper I found addresses, telephone numbers, memos of various rendezvous made and kept—or perhaps not kept—people met and remembered, or perhaps not remembered, hopes probably not fulfilled: certainly not fulfilled, or I would not have been standing on that street corner.”

Regret Sad Melancholy Unfulfilled James Baldwin Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“Giovanni had awakened an itch, had released a gnaw in me. I realized it one afternoon, when I was taking him to work via the Boulevard Montparnasse. We had bought a kilo of cherries and we were eating them as we walked along. We were both insufferably childish and high-spirited that afternoon and the spectacle we presented, two grown men jostling each other on the wide sidewalk and aiming the cherry pits, as though they were spitballs, into each other's faces, must have been outrageous. And I realized that such childishness was fantastic at my age and the happiness out of which it sprang yet more so; for that moment I really loved Giovanni, who had never seemed more beautiful than he was that afternoon.”

Love Lovers Affection Homosexuality Playfulness Bisexuality Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“The morning weighs on my shoulders with the dreadful weight of hope and I take the blue envelope which Jacques has sent me and tear it slowly into many pieces, watching them dance in the wind, watching the wind carry them away. Yet, as I turn and begin walking toward the waiting people, the wind blows some of them back on me.”

Hope Sad Symbolism Ending Last Lines James Baldwin Giovanni S Room

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“Maybe everything bad that happens to you makes you weaker," said Giovanni, as though he had not heard me, "and so you can stand less and less.”

Life Bad James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Weaker Weakened

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“One of these days," he said. "Everything bad will happen—one of these days.”

Bad Pessimistic Ominous James Baldwin Giovanni S Room Anticipatory Portent

Book:Giovanni’s Room

Source: Giovanni’s Room

“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

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