James Baldwin Quotes

Biography: James Baldwin was known for his profound contributions to literature a... more Biography: James Baldwin was known for his profound contributions to literature and social critique on race, sexuality, and identity. An influential writer, his works include the novels "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Giovanni's Room," as well as essays like "The Fire Next Time," which address the complexities of the American experience. less

"Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore.""You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read""To accept one’s past—one’s history—is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.""The artist must actively cultivate that state which most people avoid: the state of being alone.""The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power—and no one holds power forever.""The interior life is a real life, and the intangible dreams of people have a tangible effect on the world.""The reason people think it’s important to be white is that they think it’s important not to be black.""The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory.""The American ideal, after all, is that everyone should be as much alike as possible.""The world is held together by the love, and only love.""To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.""An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.""For nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.""Trust life, and it will teach you, in joy and sorrow, all you need to know.""Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it.""The world is larger than one’s political enemies.""The impossible is the least that one can demand.""The effect of such a confession—that one's value is the same as anyone else's—is that it heightens the possibilities of love.""The identity of the Negro in this country is a social and political and moral crucifixion which you would find very difficult to gaze at.""The price of the ticket is the metaphor that the child pays for the ticket into the white world, is his blackness."

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