The purpose of education...is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions. James A. Baldwin More Quotes by James A. Baldwin More Quotes From James A. Baldwin The male cannot bear very much humiliation; and he really cannot bear it, it obliterates him. James A. Baldwin humiliation males bears Women manage, quite brilliantly, on the whole, and to stunning and unforeseeable effect, to survive and surmount being defined by others. They dismiss the definition, however dangerous or wounding it may be-- or even, sometimes, find a way to utilize it. James A. Baldwin definitions may way If you really want to know something about solitude, become famous. James A. Baldwin solitude knows want I think Americans are terrified of feeling anything. I never met a people more infantile in my life. James A. Baldwin feelings people thinking It seems to be typical of life in America ... that the second generation has no time to talk to the first. James A. Baldwin typical generations america People who have been wronged will attempt to right the wrong; they would not be people if they didn't. They can rarely afford to be scrupulous about the means they will use. They will use such means as come to hand. Neither, in the main, will they distinguish one oppressor from another, nor see through to the root principle of their oppression. James A. Baldwin roots mean hands The real victim of bigotry is the white man who hides his weakness under his myth of superiority. James A. Baldwin white-man real men If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water, fire next time. James A. Baldwin fire time song You think your pains and heartbreaks are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. [and then you discover that others have suffered much more than you and your problems look good in comparison] James A. Baldwin gratitude pain thinking It is only because the world looks on his talent with such a frightening indifference that the artist is compelled to make his talent important. James A. Baldwin important looks art Even the most incorrigible maverick has to be born somewhere. He may leave the group that produced him-he may be forced to-but nothing will efface his origins, the marks of which he carries with him everywhere. I think it is important to know this and even find it a matter for rejoicing, as the strongest people do, regardless of their station. On this acceptance, literally, the life of a writer depends. James A. Baldwin origin-of-life acceptance thinking If you're treated a certain way you become a certain kind of person. If certain things are described to you as being real they're real for you whether they're real or not. James A. Baldwin swag real way The American ideal of sexuality appears to be rooted in the American ideal of masculinity. This idea has created cowboys and Indians, good guys and bad guys, punks and studs, tough guys and softies, butch and faggot, black and white. It is an ideal so paralytically infantile that it is virtually forbidden - as an unpatriotic act - that the American boy evolve into the complexity of manhood James A. Baldwin cowboy black-and-white boys At four o'clock in the morning, when everyone is drunk enough, then extraordinary things can happen. James A. Baldwin drunk wine morning I am aware that no man is a villain in his own eyes. James A. Baldwin eye humanity men You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal. James A. Baldwin goal want writing He may be a very nice man. But I haven't got the time to figure that out. All I know is, he's got a uniform and a gun and I have to relate to him that way. That's the only way to relate to him because one of us may have to die. James A. Baldwin nice gun men Life is more important than art; that's what makes art important. James A. Baldwin important life art Fonny and I just sat there... while the voices of the congregation rose and rose around us, without mercy... Teddy had the tambourine, and gave the cue to the piano player-I never got to know him: a long dark, evil-looking brother, with hands made for strangling; and with these hands he attacked the keyboard like he was beating the brains out of someone he remembered. No doubt the congregation had their memories, too, and they went to pieces. The church began to rock. James A. Baldwin music brother memories Love is like the lightning, and your maturity is signaled by the extent to which you can accept the dangers and the power and the beauty of love. James A. Baldwin lightning maturity love-is
