James A. Baldwin Quotes

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 takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
James A. Baldwin

Love, Fear, Live

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
James A. Baldwin

Good, Children, Listening

Be careful what you set your heart upon - for it will surely be yours.
James A. Baldwin

Heart, Careful, Surely

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
James A. Baldwin

Society, Nothing, Lose

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

Hate, Pain, Sense

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.
James A. Baldwin

Become, Themselves, Lives

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

Memorial Day, Love, Country

Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?
James A. Baldwin

Love, Him, Else

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.
James A. Baldwin

Human, Treat, Less

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.
James A. Baldwin

Poor, Poverty, Anyone

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, Work, Time

If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.
James A. Baldwin

Father, Son, Whole

Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.
James A. Baldwin

Work, Men, Daily

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

Power, Ignorance, Enemy

It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.
James A. Baldwin

Mind, Person, Country

I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.
James A. Baldwin

Positive, Negative, Believed

Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.
James A. Baldwin

Love, Fact, Everybody

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, Society, Become

Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.
James A. Baldwin

Law, Hatred, Destroy

A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled.
James A. Baldwin

Him, Cannot, Child

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.
James A. Baldwin

Time, Happen, Happening

You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.
James A. Baldwin

Yourself, Long, Enough

The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions.
James A. Baldwin

Power, Black, Accept

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.
James A. Baldwin

Life, Respect, Effort

Share with your Friends

Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.

Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Author

Born: August 2, 1924

Died: December 1, 1987

Links

Find on Amazon: James A. Baldwin

Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Related Authors

Mark Twain
Helen Keller
Henry David Thoreau
Zig Ziglar
Joseph Campbell
Tony Robbins
Leo Buscaglia
Anais Nin
More

Get Social with BrainyQuote

BrainyQuote Desktop

BrainyQuote Mobile

Site

Quote of the Day

Social

BQ on Pinterest

Syndication

Funny Quote Feed

Love Quote Feed

Nature Quote Feed

About Us