Incontestably, alas, most people are not, in action, worth very much; and yet, every human being is an unprecedented miracle. One tries to treat them as the miracles they are, while trying to protect oneself against the disasters they’ve become.
James Baldwin
Human potential, Human value, Personal growth, Self-protection, Miracles, Societal challenges
James Baldwin’s Quotes On Topics
Grace | Human Dilemma | Freedom And Liberation | Generational Pain | Joy | Holocaust | Suffering | Emotional Engagement | Obsession | Mysterious Search | Behind The Scenes | Victimhood | Role | Dangerous Journey | Writers | Curiosity | Adaptation | Solitude | Social Disconnect | Fear | More
More James Baldwin Quotes
“We can make America what America must become.” James Baldwin
America, Change, Society, Hope, Transformation, Progress
James Baldwin America, Change, Society, Hope, Transformation, Progress“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” James Baldwin
Love, Identity, Vulnerability, Fear, Authenticity, Self-Awareness
James Baldwin Love, Identity, Vulnerability, Fear, Authenticity, Self-Awareness“Vile as I am,” states one of the characters in Dostoevski’s The Idiot, “I don’t believe in the wagons that bring bread to humanity. For the wagons that bring bread to humanity, without any moral basis for conduct, may coldly exclude a considerable part of humanity from enjoying what is brought; so it has been already.” James Baldwin
Moral Questions, Humanitarian Efforts, Inequality, Philosophy, Social Justice
James Baldwin Moral Questions, Humanitarian Efforts, Inequality, Philosophy, Social Justice“He wanted to go home and lock his door and sleep. He was tired of the troubles of real people. He wanted to get back to the people he was inventing, whose troubles he could bear.” James Baldwin
Escape Reality, Emotional Fatigue, Personal Retreat, Writer’s Fantasy, Social Disconnect, Real vs Imagined
James Baldwin Escape Reality, Emotional Fatigue, Personal Retreat, Writer’s Fantasy, Social Disconnect, Real vs Imagined“Whatever you describe to another person is also a revelation of who you are and who you think you are. You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.” James Baldwin
Self-expression, Personal identity, Communication, Self-perception, Emotional vulnerability, Honesty
James Baldwin Self-expression, Personal identity, Communication, Self-perception, Emotional vulnerability, Honesty“Because I was raised in a Christian culture, I never considered myself to be a totally free human being.” James Baldwin
Religious Influence, Cultural Identity, Freedom and Restriction, Self-Awareness, Belief Systems
James Baldwin Religious Influence, Cultural Identity, Freedom and Restriction, Self-Awareness, Belief Systems“After departure, only invisible things are left, perhaps the life of the world is held together by invisible chains of memory and loss and love. So many things, so many people, depart! And we can only repossess them in our minds.” James Baldwin
Memory, Loss, Love, Departure, Invisible Bonds, Remembrance
James Baldwin Memory, Loss, Love, Departure, Invisible Bonds, Remembrance“For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become. It will be hard, James, but you come from sturdy, peasant stock, men who picked cotton and dammed rivers and built railroads, and, in the teeth of the most terrifying odds, achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity.” James Baldwin
America, Home, Struggle, Perseverance, Hope, Legacy
James Baldwin America, Home, Struggle, Perseverance, Hope, Legacy“Years ago, when he was around fourteen, he’d been all hipped on the idea of going to India. He read books about people sitting on rocks, naked, in all kinds of weather, but mostly bad, naturally, and walking barefoot through hot coals and arriving at wisdom. I used to say that it sounded to me as though they were getting away from wisdom as fast as they could. I think he sort of looked down on me for that.” James Baldwin
Wisdom and Growth, Youthful Idealism, Personal Journey, Cultural Reflection, Perception and Reality
James Baldwin Wisdom and Growth, Youthful Idealism, Personal Journey, Cultural Reflection, Perception and Reality“In the United States, violence and heroism have been made synonymous except when it comes to blacks.” James Baldwin
Race, Violence, Social Heroism, Systemic Injustice, Cultural Perspective, Racial Inequality
James Baldwin Race, Violence, Social Heroism, Systemic Injustice, Cultural Perspective, Racial Inequality“One writes out of one thing only – one’s own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give. This is the only real concern of the artist, to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art.” James Baldwin
Writing, Experience, Art, Creativity, Expression, Life
James Baldwin Writing, Experience, Art, Creativity, Expression, Life“They are just dirty, all of them, low and cheap and dirty.′ He stretched out his hand and pulled me down to the floor beside him. ‘All except you. Tous, sauf toi.’ He held my face between his hands and I supposed such tenderness has scarcely ever produced such terror as I then felt. ‘Ne me laisse pas tomber, je t’en prie,’ he said, and kissed me, with a strange insistent gentleness on the mouth.” James Baldwin
Tenderness, Fear, Intensity, Love, Passion, Contrast
James Baldwin Tenderness, Fear, Intensity, Love, Passion, Contrast“Our dehumanization of the Negro then is indivisible from our dehumanization of ourselves; the loss of our own identity is the price we pay for our annulment of his.” James Baldwin
Dehumanization, Identity, Race, Society, History, Equality
James Baldwin Dehumanization, Identity, Race, Society, History, Equality“If you’re afraid to die, you will not be able to live.” James Baldwin
Fear and Life, Mortality, Courage, Embracing Death, Living Fully, Existential Reflection
James Baldwin Fear and Life, Mortality, Courage, Embracing Death, Living Fully, Existential Reflection“Europe has what we 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 Baldwin
Cultural Comparison, Life's Limits, Tragic Sense, Possibility Perception, European Influence, American Dream
James Baldwin Cultural Comparison, Life's Limits, Tragic Sense, Possibility Perception, European Influence, American Dream“People can’t, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.” James Baldwin
Life, Acceptance, Relationships, Loss, Gratitude, Affirmation
James Baldwin Life, Acceptance, Relationships, Loss, Gratitude, Affirmation“The world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare.” James Baldwin
Memory, Forgetfulness, Madness, Heroes, Rarity
James Baldwin Memory, Forgetfulness, Madness, Heroes, Rarity“She was so incredibly beautiful – she seemed to be wearing the sunlight, rearranging it around her from time to time, with a movement of one hand, with a movement of her head, and with her smile – that, when she paid the man and started out of the store, I started out behind her.” James Baldwin
Beauty, Fascination, Light, Movement, Attraction, Ephemeral Moments
James Baldwin Beauty, Fascination, Light, Movement, Attraction, Ephemeral Moments