baldwin Quotes

“Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.”

“Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings.”

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.”

“Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black.”

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”

“The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.”

“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.”

“There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment the time is always now.”