Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent. James Baldwin Read Quote
When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn’t a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. James Baldwin Read Quote
Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it. James Baldwin Read Quote
The writer’s greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all. James Baldwin Read Quote
Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one’s beliefs, and the equal impossibility of becoming free of them, one can be driven to the most inhuman excesses. James Baldwin Read Quote
There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention. James Baldwin Read Quote
Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock. James Baldwin Read Quote
There is a ‘sanctity’ involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it. James Baldwin Read Quote
