James Joyce is right about history being a nightmare – but it may be that nightmare from which no one can awaken. People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
James Baldwin
History Reflection, Human Condition, Cycle of Life, Existential Thoughts, Unavoidable Reality
James Baldwin’s Quotes On Topics
Brotherhood | Human Actions | Racial Justice | Injustice | Moving Forward | Emotional Landscape | Truth | Questions | Dehumanization | Risk And Giving | Social Control | American Ideal | Shame Avoidance | Curiosity | Escape | Excellence | Sound Perception | Psychological Conflict | Thoughts And Emotions | Life Surprises | More
More James Baldwin Quotes
“There is something terribly radical about believing that one’s own experience and images are important enough to speak about, much less to write about and to perform.” James Baldwin
Radical, Experience, Art, Writing, Expression, Courage
James Baldwin Radical, Experience, Art, Writing, Expression, Courage“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 Baldwin
Belief, Injustice, Humanity, Strength, Dignity
James Baldwin Belief, Injustice, Humanity, Strength, Dignity“Hatred is always self hatred, and there is something suicidal about it.” James Baldwin
Hatred, Self-Hatred, Emotion, Destruction, Psychology, Reflection
James Baldwin Hatred, Self-Hatred, Emotion, Destruction, Psychology, Reflection“All the western nations are caught in a lie, the lie of their pretended humanism: this means that their history has no moral justification, and that the West has no moral authority.” James Baldwin
Western Nations, History, Humanism, Lies, Moral Authority
James Baldwin Western Nations, History, Humanism, Lies, Moral Authority“He wished he could rescue her, that it was within his power to rescue her and make her life less hard. But it was only love which could accomplish the miracle of making a life bearable – only love, and love itself mostly failed; and he had never loved her. He had used her to find out something about himself. And even this was not true. He had used her in the hope of avoiding a confrontation with himself which he had, nevertheless, and with a vengeance, been forced to endure.” James Baldwin
Love, Self-Discovery, Failed Love, Emotional Struggle, Relationships, Inner Conflict
James Baldwin Love, Self-Discovery, Failed Love, Emotional Struggle, Relationships, Inner Conflict“The black man in our midst carried murder in his heart, he wanted vengeance. We carried murder too, we wanted peace.” James Baldwin
Racial Struggle, Vengeance vs Peace, Emotional Conflict, Social Justice, Black Identity, Inner Battle
James Baldwin Racial Struggle, Vengeance vs Peace, Emotional Conflict, Social Justice, Black Identity, Inner Battle“An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.” James Baldwin
Identity, Experience, Self-Discovery, Reflection, Growth, Life
James Baldwin Identity, Experience, Self-Discovery, Reflection, Growth, Life“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“Society is held together by our need; we bind it together with legend, myth, coercion, fearing that without it we will be hurled into that void, within which, like the earth before the Word was spoken, the foundations of society are hidden.” James Baldwin
Society, Myth, Need, Coercion, Foundations, Fear
James Baldwin Society, Myth, Need, Coercion, Foundations, Fear“It goes without saying, I believe, that if we understood ourselves better, we would damage ourselves less.” James Baldwin
Self-Understanding, Personal Growth, Inner Healing, Emotional Damage, Reflection, Self-Knowledge
James Baldwin Self-Understanding, Personal Growth, Inner Healing, Emotional Damage, Reflection, Self-Knowledge“To accept one’s past – one’s history – is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.” James Baldwin
Accepting History, Growth, Learning from the Past, Personal Strength, Transformation
James Baldwin Accepting History, Growth, Learning from the Past, Personal Strength, Transformation“For nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.” James Baldwin
Freedom's Burden, Personal Struggle, Human Dilemma, Emotional Conflict, Life Choices, Fear of Freedom
James Baldwin Freedom's Burden, Personal Struggle, Human Dilemma, Emotional Conflict, Life Choices, Fear of Freedom“Most people are not naturally reflective any more than they are naturally malicious, and the white man prefers to keep the black man at a certain human remove because it is easier for him thus to preserve his simplicity and avoid being called to account for crimes committed by his forefathers, or his neighbors.” James Baldwin
Reflection and Responsibility, Racial Dynamics, Historical Accountability, Human Nature, Avoidance
James Baldwin Reflection and Responsibility, Racial Dynamics, Historical Accountability, Human Nature, Avoidance“Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.” James Baldwin
Change Resistance, Personal Growth, Life Transformation, Emotional Shock, Self-Awareness, Change Process
James Baldwin Change Resistance, Personal Growth, Life Transformation, Emotional Shock, Self-Awareness, Change Process“They knew that no one heard, that bloodless people cannot be made to bleed. So they blew what everyone had heard before, they reassured everyone that nothing terrible was happening.” James Baldwin
Silence, Injustice, Resistance, Society, Oppression, Truth
James Baldwin Silence, Injustice, Resistance, Society, Oppression, Truth“But that battered word, truth, having made its appearance here, confronts one immediately with a series of riddles and has, moreover, since so many gospels are preached, the unfortunate tendency to make one belligerent.” James Baldwin
Truth, Society, Religion, Conflict, Knowledge, Riddles
James Baldwin Truth, Society, Religion, Conflict, Knowledge, Riddles“Americans are as unlike any other white people in the world as it is possible to be. I do not think, for example, that it is too much to suggest that the American vision of the world – which allows so little reality, generally speaking, for any of the darker forces in human life, which tends until today to paint moral issues in glaring black and white – owes a great deal to the battle waged by Americans to maintain between themselves and black men a human separation which could not be bridged.” James Baldwin
America, Race, Society, Morality, History, Separation
James Baldwin America, Race, Society, Morality, History, Separation“There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it.” James Baldwin
Acceptance, Love, Racial Dynamics, History, Hope, Liberation
James Baldwin Acceptance, Love, Racial Dynamics, History, Hope, Liberation