James A. Baldwin

James A. Baldwin

29 quotes

James A. Baldwin is an American sportsperson whose words have traveled far beyond their original audience. James A. Baldwin's observations on Time are as sharp as their thoughts on Love, revealing genuine breadth of mind. Discover 37 of James A. Baldwin's most memorable quotes, ranging across Time, Love, Power, History, and Work. A line that stays with you: "The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions."

“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

— James A. Baldwin

Love

All Quotes by James A. Baldwin

“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”

— James A. Baldwin

Power

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

— James A. Baldwin

Good

“Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black.”

— James A. Baldwin

Education

“The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.”

— James A. Baldwin

Knowledge

“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

— James A. Baldwin

Love

“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 A. Baldwin

Love

“Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?”

— James A. Baldwin

Love

“American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.”

— James A. Baldwin

History

“Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.”

— James A. Baldwin

Truth

“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

Hope

“People can cry much easier than they can change.”

— James A. Baldwin

Change

“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”

— James A. Baldwin

Society

“The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.”

— James A. Baldwin

Power

“The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did - which was to hide.”

— James A. Baldwin

Failure

“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.”

— James A. Baldwin

History

“There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.”

— James A. Baldwin

Future

“I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.”

— James A. Baldwin

Positive

“The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”

— James A. Baldwin

Education

“The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others.”

— James A. Baldwin

Experience

“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”

— James A. Baldwin

Time