James Baldwin
American writer and civil rights activist (1924 to 1987); author of the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, the essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, and plays and poems.
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What they believe
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Those who cause devastation must not be allowed to also be innocent
But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent.
books.google.comSaid c. 1962–1963This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 21 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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Those who cause devastation must not be allowed to also be innocent
But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
The innocence of those responsible for the harm is itself what constitutes the crime
It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
A young Black American was expected to make peace with mediocrity, not to aspire to excellence
You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Show 18 more
If you know where you came from, there is really no limit to where you can go
Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
The truly terrible thing is that Black Americans are the ones who must accept white Americans
The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
What white Americans believe and inflict shows not Black inferiority but their own inhumanity and fear
Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Black Americans should not be driven from their American home, and can make America what it must become
For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
America celebrates a century of freedom a century too soon, and Black Americans cannot be free until white Americans are
You know, and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon. We cannot be free until they are free.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Black Americans' experience gives them no reason to respect standards white America claims but does not live by
But the Negro's experience of the white world cannot possibly create in him any respect for the standards by which the white world claims to live. His own condition is overwhelming proof that white people do not live by these standards.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Whoever debases others is debasing themselves
Whoever debases others is debasing himself.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within
Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
White people, in general, cannot be taken as models of how to live
White people cannot, in the generality, be taken as models of how to live.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
We must assume everything is now in our hands, and we have no right to assume otherwise
Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger
To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Religious salvation has no point if it does not let one behave with love toward others, however they behave
But what was the point, the purpose, of my salvation if it did not permit me to behave with love toward others, no matter how they behaved toward me?
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Being sensual arguably means respecting and rejoicing in the force of life and being present in all one does
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 breaking of bread.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
The idea of God is only of use if it makes us larger, freer and more loving; otherwise discard 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.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
The Christian world has revealed itself as morally bankrupt and politically unstable
But time has passed, and in that time the Christian world has revealed itself as morally bankrupt and politically unstable.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Freedom is hard to bear
Freedom is hard to bear.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Life is tragic simply because time passes and each of us will one day see our last sunset
Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
Perhaps humanity's root trouble is sacrificing life's beauty to totems, races and nations to deny the fact of death
Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have.
The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition) Said c. 1962–1963
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