These captive men are the hidden price for a hidden lie: the righteous must be able to locate the damned.
James Baldwin
Social justice, Hidden truths, Moral responsibility, Injustice, Personal cost, Redemption
James Baldwin’s Quotes On Topics
Consolation Failure | Cost Of Living | Loneliness | Social Categorization | Disoriented Identity | Hidden Truths | Existential Moment | Ancestry | Experience And Innocence | Emotional Darkness | Social Structure | Skepticism | Shared Beliefs | Separation | Journey | Decision | Past Reflection | Faith | Intellectual Life | Love | More
More James Baldwin Quotes
“No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.” James Baldwin
Unpredictable Future, Unique Experience, Life Uncertainty, First Time, Momentous Change, Reality Shift
James Baldwin Unpredictable Future, Unique Experience, Life Uncertainty, First Time, Momentous Change, Reality Shift“Uncle Tom’s Cabin, then, is activated by what might be called a theological terror, the terror of damnation; and the spirit that breathes in this book, hot, self-righteous, fearful, is not different from that spirit of medieval times which sought to exorcize evil by burning witches; and is not different from that terror which activates a lynch mob.” James Baldwin
Theological Terror, Historical Fear, Racism, Oppression, Social Justice
James Baldwin Theological Terror, Historical Fear, Racism, Oppression, Social Justice“It takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare.” James Baldwin
Memory and Forgetting, Strength, Pain, Innocence, Heroes
James Baldwin Memory and Forgetting, Strength, Pain, Innocence, Heroes“But if women are supposed to be led by men and there aren’t any men to lead them, what happens then? What happens then?” James Baldwin
Gender, Leadership, Society, Women, Equality, Change
James Baldwin Gender, Leadership, Society, Women, Equality, Change“I wish to God I may die if I don’t love you. There ain’t no sky above us if I don’t love you.” James Baldwin
Unconditional Love, Emotional Devotion, Existential Love, Life and Love, Deep Affection, Romantic Intensity
James Baldwin Unconditional Love, Emotional Devotion, Existential Love, Life and Love, Deep Affection, Romantic Intensity“At bottom, to be colored means that one has been caught in some utterly unbelievable cosmic joke, a joke so hideous and in such bad taste that it defeats all categories and definitions.” James Baldwin
Cosmic Joke, Racial Struggle, Identity Crisis, Bad Taste, Unbelievable Reality, Racial Humor
James Baldwin Cosmic Joke, Racial Struggle, Identity Crisis, Bad Taste, Unbelievable Reality, Racial Humor“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.” James Baldwin
Love, Growth, Conflict, Relationships, Understanding, Change
James Baldwin Love, Growth, Conflict, Relationships, Understanding, Change“People make you pay for the way you look, which is also the way you think you look, and what time writes is a record of that collision.” James Baldwin
Social Judgment, Self-Perception, Time's Record, External Influence, Identity Conflict, Appearance
James Baldwin Social Judgment, Self-Perception, Time's Record, External Influence, Identity Conflict, Appearance“From my own point of view, the fact of the Third Reich alone makes obsolete forever any question of Christian superiority, except in technological terms. White people were, and are, astounded by the holocaust in Germany. They did not know that they could act that way. But I very much doubt whether black people were astounded – at least, in the same way.” James Baldwin
Holocaust, Racial disparity, Christian superiority, Historical trauma, Human atrocity, Race relations
James Baldwin Holocaust, Racial disparity, Christian superiority, Historical trauma, Human atrocity, Race relations“To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity.” James Baldwin
Identity, Inquiry, Self-Discovery, Philosophy, Life Questions
James Baldwin Identity, Inquiry, Self-Discovery, Philosophy, Life Questions“You’ve got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble.” James Baldwin
Self-Respect, Personal Empowerment, Boundaries, Authority, Social Expectations
James Baldwin Self-Respect, Personal Empowerment, Boundaries, Authority, Social Expectations“Loving anybody and being loved by anybody is a tremendous danger, a tremendous responsibility. Loving of children, raising of children. The terrors homosexuals go through in this society would not be so great if the society itself did not go through so many terrors which it doesn’t want to admit. The discovery of one’s sexual preference doesn’t have to be a trauma. It’s a trauma because it’s such a traumatized society.” James Baldwin
Love, Responsibility, Society, Sexuality, Trauma
James Baldwin Love, Responsibility, Society, Sexuality, Trauma“In America, though, life seems to move faster than anywhere else on the globe and each generation is promised more than it will get: which creates, in each generation, a furious, bewildered rage, the rage of people who cannot find solid ground beneath their feet.” James Baldwin
Generational Struggles, American Dream, Disillusionment, Social Expectations, Personal Struggles
James Baldwin Generational Struggles, American Dream, Disillusionment, Social Expectations, Personal Struggles“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” James Baldwin
Children, Imitation, Learning, Elders, Influence
James Baldwin Children, Imitation, Learning, Elders, Influence“The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.” James Baldwin
Connection, Love’s Fragility, Human Faith, Emotional Bonds, Family Unity, Fragile Trust
James Baldwin Connection, Love’s Fragility, Human Faith, Emotional Bonds, Family Unity, Fragile Trust“Some moments in a life, and they needn’t be very long or seem very important, can make up for so much in that life; can redeem, justify, that pain, that bewilderment, with which one lives, and invest one with the courage not only to endure it, but to profit from it; some moments teach one the price of human connection: if one can live with one’s own pain, then one respects the pain of others, and so, briefly, but transcendentally, we can release each other from pain.” James Baldwin
Moments, Life, Pain, Connection, Healing, Empathy
James Baldwin Moments, Life, Pain, Connection, Healing, Empathy“If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” James Baldwin
Roots, Knowledge, Identity, Limitlessness, Heritage, Personal Growth
James Baldwin Roots, Knowledge, Identity, Limitlessness, Heritage, Personal Growth“If a society permits one portion of its citizenry to be menaced or destroyed, then, very soon, no one in that society is safe. The forces thus released in the people can never be held in check, but run their devouring course, destroying the very foundations which it was imagined they would save.” James Baldwin
Social Justice, Inequality, Human Rights, Collective Safety, Social Unrest
James Baldwin Social Justice, Inequality, Human Rights, Collective Safety, Social Unrest