James Baldwin


poet James Baldwin
#266 on top 500 poets

James Baldwin Quotes

  • ''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 (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. In The Price of the Ticket (1985). "The Creative Process," (1962).
    70 person liked.
    		8 person did not like.
  • ''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 (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. In The Price of the Ticket (1985). "The Crusade of Indignation," Nation (New York, July 7, 1956).
    44 person liked.
    		7 person did not like.
  • ''There is a "sanctity" involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it.''
    James Baldwin (1924-1987), U.S. author. First published (1976). "The Devil Finds Work," sct. 1, The Price of the Ticket (1985).
    28 person liked.
    		4 person did not like.
  • ''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 (1924-1987), U.S. author. "The Devil Finds Work," sct. 1, The Price of the Ticket (first publ. 1976, 1985).
    22 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''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 (1924-1987), U.S. author. (First published 1976). "The Devil Finds Work," sect. 1, The Price Of The Ticket (1985).
    23 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''The American ideal, after all, is that everyone should be as much alike as possible.''
    James Baldwin (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. in Notes of a Native Son, pt. 2 (1955). "The Harlem Ghetto," first published in Commentary (New York, Feb. 1948).
    3 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
  • ''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 (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. In The Price Of The Ticket as "A Talk to Teachers" (1985). "The Negro Child—His Self-Image," Saturday Review (New York, December 21, 1963).
    6 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • ''Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned.''
    James Baldwin (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. In The Price of the Ticket (1985). "The New Lost Generation," Esquire (New York, July 1961). On the futility of running from a situation, with particular reference to his own "exile" in Paris.
    1 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
  • ''Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.''
    James Baldwin (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. In Nobody Knows My Name (1961). "The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman," first published in Esquire (New York, April 1960).
    8 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
  • ''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 (1924-1987), U.S. author. repr. In The Price of the Ticket (1985). "They Can't Turn Back," Mademoiselle (New York, Aug. 1960).
    4 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.

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Best Poem of James Baldwin

Untitled

Lord,
when you send the rain
think about it, please,
a little?
Do
not get carried away
by the sound of falling water,
the marvelous light
on the falling water.
I
am beneath that water.
It falls with great force
and the light
Blinds
me to the light.

Read the full of Untitled

Staggerlee wonders

I always wonder
what they think the niggers are doing
while they, the pink and alabaster pragmatists,
are containing
Russia
and defining and re-defining and re-aligning
China,
nobly restraining themselves, meanwhile,
from blowing up that earth

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