James Baldwin – a Social Reformer and a Revolutionist
James Baldwin is an American writer who never stopped to reflect on his struggles as a black man. He had written numerous essays, novels, and plays. He had also delivered public speeches and with his eloquent voice, he spontaneously spoke about the pains and struggles of Afro-Americans. Also, he was considered to be one of the most important vocal advocates who stood for equality.
All of the famous James Baldwin quotes beings you closer to humanity and develop a humane quality. James Baldwin has dealt with several themes and concepts that have taken from exploring social issues. He stood by equality and has remained as a voice for the voiceless. He talked about several things in his life through his writings.
Racism
Baldwin brings out the racial prejudice and social injustice that happen during his time. Not only in America, but he also explored the racial happenings of every part of the world and has shockingly brought everything out in his writings. One of James Baldwin’s famous quotes reveals racism that he conveys that the country in which the blacks born and that gave identity has not given even a small place to live peacefully.
Human Rights
Baldwin frequently talks about human rights in his public speech. Freedom is not given to all human beings equally because of issues such as racism, gender bias, religion, and politics. His speech would kindle to bring out the revolution of liberty, fraternity, and equality among the people. His speeches pinpoint the unbearable truth that inequality between human beings was prevailing.
Religion and Faith
Baldwin was the son of a Baptist minister in the church. During his young age, Baldwin spent three years as a preacher. Then he became a secular preacher throughout his life. He had reflected in several quotes about people being religious and hesitates to mingle with blacks. He even had asked whether blacks must go for separate mass.
James Baldwin Quotes with Images
The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in. – James Baldwin
Whoever debases others is debasing himself. – James Baldwin
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. – James Baldwin
I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative. – James Baldwin
The responsibility of a writer is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him. – James Baldwin
The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory. – James Baldwin
Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. – James Baldwin
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. -James Baldwin
Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch. – James Baldwin
People can cry much easier than they can change. – James Baldwin
It is a very rare man who does not victimize the helpless. – James Baldwin
More Quotes by James Baldwin:-
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 Baldwin
No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it. – James Baldwin
The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world’s definitions. – James Baldwin
I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all. – James Baldwin
The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever. – James Baldwin
Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it. – James Baldwin
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 Baldwin
There is a ‘sanctity’ involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it. – James Baldwin
It is very nearly impossible… to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind. – James Baldwin
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 Baldwin
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
James Baldwin Sayings
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. – James Baldwin
Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it. – James Baldwin
An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience. – James Baldwin
When one begins to live by habit and by quotation,
one has begun to stop living. – James Baldwin
A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him,
and a child cannot afford to be fooled. – James Baldwin
It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find
that in a world of Gary Coopers you are Indian. – James Baldwin
The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties,
any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land. – James Baldwin
But the relationship between morality and power is a very subtle one.
Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power. – James Baldwin
We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions
and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours. – James Baldwin
The South is very beautiful but its beauty makes one sad because the lives that people live here,
and have lived here, are so ugly. – James Baldwin
The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men,
necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone. – James Baldwin
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does.
Love is a battle, love is a war; Also, love is a growing up. – James A. Baldwin
James A. Baldwin Best Messages:-
The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now. – James Baldwin
I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do. – James Baldwin
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. – James Baldwin
Education is indoctrination if you’re white – subjugation if you’re black. – James Baldwin
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin
Be careful what you set your heart upon – for it will surely be yours. – James Baldwin
To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger. – James Baldwin
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders,
but they have never failed to imitate them. – James Baldwin
Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition. – James Baldwin
I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason,
I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually – James Baldwin
Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take,
and people are as free as they want to be. – James Baldwin
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 Baldwin
Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor – James Baldwin
It is very nearly impossible to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind. – James Baldwin
More Quotes
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time – James Baldwin
Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go. – James Baldwin
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have – James 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 Baldwin
You write in order to change the world… if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it – James 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 Baldwin
The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see – James Baldwin
Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind. – James Baldwin
Confusion is a luxury that only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore. – James Baldwin
You have to go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all. – James Baldwin
I often wonder what I’d do if there weren’t any books in the world. – James Baldwin
The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it – James Baldwin
Final Words
Baldwin railed against injustice, prejudice, and chaos that happened against black slaves. The major cause of all the injustice that happened in the world is inequality. Every individual is unique in color, appearance, gestures, ideas, and behaviors. The law of nature is to treat everyone equally. Man-made things like race, caste, religion, etc is a curse to humanity. Following Baldwin’s footsteps, people have to open their eyes to the heart to analyze what is right and what is wrong.
Also, you may like to read:-