James A. Baldwin Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old James A. Baldwin quotes, James A. Baldwin sayings, and James A. Baldwin proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. James A. Baldwin
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
True rebels after all, are as rare as true lovers,and in both cases, to mistake a fever for passion can destroy one's life. James A. Baldwin
Nakedness has no color: this can come as news only to those who have never covered, or been covered by, another naked human being. James A. Baldwin
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 A. Baldwin
Rage cannot be hidden, it can only be dissembled. This dissembling deludes the thoughtless, and strengthens rage and adds, to rage, contempt. James A. Baldwin
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. James A. Baldwin
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
To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger. James A. Baldwin
Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law. 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
This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again. James A. Baldwin
The real victim of bigotry is the white man who hides his weakness under his myth of superiority. James A. Baldwin
The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat. James A. Baldwin
Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give. James A. Baldwin
Experience is a private, very largely speechless affair. James A. Baldwin
My friend was about to introduce me when she looked at me and smiled and said, "Whose little boy are you?" James A. Baldwin
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 A. Baldwin
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. James A. Baldwin
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. James A. Baldwin
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
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. James A. Baldwin
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 A. Baldwin
Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart; for his purity, by definition, is unassailable. James A. Baldwin