A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven.
James A. BaldwinMost of us, no matter what we say, are walking in the dark, whistling in the dark. Nobody knows what is going to happen to him from one moment to the next, or how one will bear it. This is irreducible. And it's true of everybody. Now, it is true that the nature of society is to create, among its citizens, an illusion of safety; but it is also absolutely true that the safety is always necessarily an illusion. Artists are here to disturb the peace.
James A. BaldwinI'm beginning to think that maybe everything that happens makes sense. Like, if it didn't make sense, how could it happen?
James A. BaldwinSentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty...the wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent humanity, the mark of cruelty.
James A. Baldwin