Quotes by James A. Baldwin - AI Generated Quotes

James A. Baldwin

People can cry much easier than they can change.

-James A. Baldwin

change

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

-James A. Baldwin

education

Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black.

-James A. Baldwin

education

The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others.

-James A. Baldwin

experience

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did - which was to hide.

-James A. Baldwin

failure

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

-James A. Baldwin

fear

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

-James A. Baldwin

future

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.

-James A. Baldwin

future

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

-James A. Baldwin

good

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.

-James A. Baldwin

history

American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.

-James A. Baldwin

history

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

-James A. Baldwin

history

Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings.

-James A. Baldwin

hope

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.

-James A. Baldwin

knowledge

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a growing up.

-James A. Baldwin

love

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

-James A. Baldwin

love

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

-James A. Baldwin

love

Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?

-James A. Baldwin

love

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

men

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did.

-James A. Baldwin

money

I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.

-James A. Baldwin

positive

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

-James A. Baldwin

power

The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions.

-James A. Baldwin

power

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.

-James A. Baldwin

power

If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.

-James A. Baldwin

relationship

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.

-James A. Baldwin

respect

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.

-James A. Baldwin

society

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

-James A. Baldwin

society

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

-James A. Baldwin

time

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.

-James A. Baldwin

time

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

-James A. Baldwin

time

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

-James A. Baldwin

time

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.

-James A. Baldwin

truth

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a growing up.

-James A. Baldwin

war

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

-James A. Baldwin

work

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

People can cry much easier than they can change.

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black.

The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others.

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did - which was to hide.

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.

American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings.

The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a growing up.

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?

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.

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did.

I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions.

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.

If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.

The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a growing up.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.

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.

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