James Arthur “Jimmy” Baldwin was an American novelist and social critic. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son, explore intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th-century America. Wikipedia
Let’s See James Baldwin’s Quotes.
James Baldwin Quotes
1.” Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.”
2. “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
3.” American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.”
4.” Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”
5. “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
James Baldwin quote on life
6.“To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.” —from The Fire Next Time (1963)
James Baldwin quotes on Love
7.“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” —from The Fire Next Time(1963)
8.“People can’t, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, any more than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.” —from Giovanni’s Room(1956)
9.“Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.” —from Conversations with James Baldwin(1989)
James Baldwin quotes on Poverty
10.“Anyone who has struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” —from Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (1961)
James Baldwin quotes on Writing
11.“You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.” —from “An interview with James Baldwin” (1961)
12. “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” –James Baldwin Quotes
13.” I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do. ” –James A. Baldwin
