“I’ve never written a speech. I can’t read a speech. It’s kind of give-and-take. You have to sense the people you’re talking to. You have to respond to what they hear.”
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
“Our crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it”
"If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him."
"Most people are not naturally reflective any more than they are naturally malicious, and the white man prefers to keep the black man at a certain human remove because it is easier for him thus to preserve his simplicity and avoid being called to account for crimes committed by his forefathers, or his neighbors."
"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."
"Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind."
"Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?"
"There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain."
Sources:
https://www.goalcast.com/2018/06/14/15-james-baldwin-quotes/
https://www.oprahmag.com/life/g32842156/james-baldwin-quotes/
https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/james-baldwin-quotes
https://everydaypower.com/james-baldwin-quotes/
http://notable-quotes.com/b/baldwin_james.html
More resources on James Baldwin:
Library of Congress - James Baldwin Reading from his works
Full video of 1965 debate of James Baldwin and William F. Buckley
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