Most of us are about as eager to change as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock. James A. Baldwin More Quotes by James A. Baldwin More Quotes From James A. Baldwin It is a very rare man who does not victimize the helpless. James A. Baldwin prejudice doe men The greatest significance of the present student generation is that it is through them that the point of view of the subjugated is finally and inexorably being expressed. James A. Baldwin generations students views Europe has what we [Americans] do not have yet, a sense of the mysterious and inexorable limits of life, a sense, in a word, of tragedy. And we have what they sorely need: a sense of life's possibilities. James A. Baldwin tragedy europe needs I'm beginning to think that maybe everything that happens makes sense. Like, if it didn't make sense, how could it happen? James A. Baldwin make-sense life thinking Most people... find a disorientating mismatch between the long-term nature of their liabilities and the increasingly short-term nature of their assets. James A. Baldwin mismatch long people All of Africa will be free before we can get a lousy cup of coffee. James A. Baldwin coffee-cup cups coffee To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity. James A. Baldwin achieve identity way A man's balance depends on the weight he carries between his legs. James A. Baldwin balance weight men When the book comes out it may hurt you - but in order for me to do it, it had to hurt me first. I can only tell you about yourself as much as I can face about myself. James A. Baldwin reading hurt book When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway. James A. Baldwin want writing trying The past is what makes the present coherent, and the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly. James A. Baldwin horrible long past This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again. James A. Baldwin ethics white world Employment is my right my destiny. James A. Baldwin my-destiny employment destiny People can cry much easier than they can change, a rule of psychology people like me picked up as kids on the street. James A. Baldwin psychology kids people The wretched of the earth do not decide to become extinct, they resolve, on the contrary, to multiply: life is their weapon against life, life is all that they have. James A. Baldwin weapons earth life-is If all you want to do is make money, the very last thing you need is imagination. James A. Baldwin imagination want needs The establishment of democracy on the American continent was scarcely as radical a break with the past as was the necessity, which Americans faced, of broadening this concept to include black men. James A. Baldwin black men past Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves. James A. Baldwin white knows people Negro servants have been smuggling odds and ends out of white homes for generations, and white people have been delighted to have them do it, because it has assuaged a dim guilt and testified to the intrinsic superiority of white people. James A. Baldwin odds white home What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors. James A. Baldwin heroic identity america
