The responsibility of a writer is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him. James A. Baldwin More Quotes by James A. Baldwin More Quotes From James A. Baldwin The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers. James A. Baldwin purpose answers art All racists are irresponsible. James A. Baldwin racist racism race 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 funny sex Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it. Everyone desires love but also finds it impossible to believe that he deserves it. James A. Baldwin desire-love wish believe The artistic image is not intended to represent the thing itself, but, rather, the reality of the force the thing contains. James A. Baldwin artistic force reality We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them -- to try to understand what you have done, why you have done it. That way, you can begin to forgive yourself. That's very important. If you don't forgive yourself you'll never be able to forgive anybody else and you'll go on committing the same crimes forever. James A. Baldwin forgiving forever lying Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it. James A. Baldwin innocence experience justice An identity is questioned only when it is menaced, as when the mighty begin to fall, or when the wretched begin to rise, or when the stranger enters the gates, never, thereafter, to be a stranger. James A. Baldwin stranger identity fall I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life, his own. He has to make it do what he wants it to do. And a piano is just a piano. It's made out of so much wood and wires and little hammers and big ones, and ivory. While there's only so much you can do with it, the only way to find this out is to try; to try and make it do everything. James A. Baldwin ivory piano trying In overlooking, denying, evading this complexity--which is nothing more than the disquieting complexity of ourselves--we are diminished and we perish; only within this web of ambiguity, paradox, this hunger, danger, darkness, can we find at once ourselves and the power that will free us from ourselves. It is this power of revelation that is the business of the novelist, this journey toward a more vast reality which must take precedence over other claims. James A. Baldwin journey darkness reality It is perfectly possible to be enamoured of Paris while remaining totally indifferent or even hostile to the French. James A. Baldwin french-culture eiffel-tower paris I will no longer take anyone's word for my experience. James A. Baldwin For nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom. James A. Baldwin unbearable You write in order to change the world. James A. Baldwin writing order world 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 race people thinking You took the best, so why not take the rest? James A. Baldwin why-not The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all. James A. Baldwin greed writing needs The miracle is that some have stepped out of the rags of the Republic's definition to assume the great burden and glory of their humanity and their responsibility for one another. It is an extraordinary achievement to be trapped in the dungeon of color and to dare to shake down its walls and to step out of it leaving the jailkeeper in the rubble. James A. Baldwin wall color responsibility You go into a book and you're in the dark, really. You go in with a certain fear and trembling. You know one thing. You know you will not be the same person when this voyage is over. But you don't know what's going to happen to you between getting on the boat and stepping off. James A. Baldwin voyages dark book All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. James A. Baldwin music-is knows people
