Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.
James A. BaldwinThe male cannot bear very much humiliation; and he really cannot bear it, it obliterates him.
James A. BaldwinChildren have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
James A. BaldwinThere is something terribly radical about believing that one's own experience and images are important enough to speak about, much less to write about and to perform
James A. BaldwinEuropean society has always been divided into classes in a way that American society never has been. A European writer considers himself to be part of an old and honorable tradition--of intellectual activity, of letters--and his choice of a vocation does not cause him any uneasy wonder as to whether or not it will cost him all his friends. But this tradition does not exist in America.
James A. Baldwin