The determination to outwit one's situation means that one has no models, only object lessons. James A. Baldwin More Quotes by James A. Baldwin More Quotes From James A. Baldwin Drive to the heart of every answer and expose the question the answer hides. James A. Baldwin answers heart It is rare indeed that people give. Most people guard and keep; they suppose that it is they themselves and what they identify with themselves that they are guarding and keeping, whereas what they are actually guarding and keeping is their system of reality and what they assume themselves to be. James A. Baldwin helping-others reality people Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be James A. Baldwin freedom government inspirational Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity James A. Baldwin doe trying believe People don't have any mercy. They tear you limb from limb, in the name of love. Then, when you're dead, when they've killed you by what they made you go through, they say you didn't have any character. They weep big, bitter tears - not for you. For themselves, because they've lost their toy. James A. Baldwin names character people What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors. It's astounding to me, for example, that so many people really seem to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free. James A. Baldwin hero believe country It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive. James A. Baldwin writing book people This is the charged, the dangerous moment, when everything must be re-examined, must be made new, when nothing at all can be taken for granted. James A. Baldwin granted moments taken You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. James A. Baldwin empathy pain thinking Artists are here to disturb the peace. James A. Baldwin artist It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind. James A. Baldwin independent education country People who cling to their illusions find it difficult, if not impossible, to learn anything worth learning: a people under the necessity of creating themselves must examine everything, and soak up learning the way the roots of a tree soak up water. James A. Baldwin creating roots water It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them as men. It treats them as mascots, pets, or things. James A. Baldwin pet men america I can't be a pessimist, because I am alive. James A. Baldwin i-am-alive pessimist alive A person does not lightly elect to oppose his society. One would much rather be at home among one's compatriots than be mocked and detested by them. And there is a level on which the mockery of people, even their hatred, is moving, because it is so blind: It is terrible to watch people cling to their captivity and insist on their own destruction. James A. Baldwin home people moving You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way... people look at reality, then you can change it. James A. Baldwin change writing reality For these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for whatthey become. James A. Baldwin profit pay children A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven. James A. Baldwin assuming artist heaven For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness. James A. Baldwin black light darkness There is a 'sanctity' involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it. James A. Baldwin uplifting baby funny
