james-baldwin

Link	Quote	Tags	Author
336feaf	Whose little boy are you?	racism youth religion god harlem james-baldwin renaissance institution epiphany coming-of-age black church	James Baldwin
ece1b9a	You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.	james-baldwin fiction-writing quotes	James Baldwin
7c7e007	But I felt that it was my heart which was broken. Something had broken in me to make me so cold and so perfectly still and far away.	distant giovanni-s-room james-baldwin heartbroken detached dissociation cold	James Baldwin
79e2e86	Whereas Jesus and his disciples were distrusted by the state largely because they respected the poor and shared everything, the fundamentalists of the present hour would appear not to know that the poor exist.	religion james-baldwin humanitarianism hypocrisy	James Baldwin
8caf5de	I had to get out of there for my face showed too much, the war in my body was dragging me down. My feet refused to carry me over to him again. The wind of my life was blowing me away.	life leave-taking giovanni-s-room james-baldwin inner-turmoil goodbye separation sad	James Baldwin
a1ffc5b	And with every step I took it became more impossible for me to turn back. And my mind was empty--or it was as though my mind had become one enormous, anaesthetized wound. I thought only,	sorrow no-turning-back james-baldwin leaving numb grieving sad	James Baldwin
1d0217f	The wonderful thing about writers like [James] Baldwin is the way we read them and come across passages that are so arresting we become breathless and have to raise our eyes from the page to keep from being spirited away.	words writing wonder james-baldwin writers	Edward P. Jones
800a860	"Maybe everything bad that happens to you makes you weaker," said Giovanni, as though he had not heard me, "and so you can stand less and less."	life weakened weaker giovanni-s-room james-baldwin	James Baldwin
36690c0	"He smiled, "Why, you will go home and then you will find that home is not home anymore. Then you will really be in trouble. As long as you stay here, you can always think: One day I will go home." He played with my thumb and grinned. " ?" "Beautiful logic," I said. "You mean I have a home to go to as long as I don't go there?" He laughed. "Well, isn't it true? You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back."	giovanni-s-room james-baldwin paradox home	James Baldwin
b9043df	To be liberated from the stigma of blackness by embracing it is to cease, forever, one's interior argument and collaboration with the authors of one's degradation. It abruptly reduces the white enemy to a contest merely physical, which he can win only physically.	no-name-in-the-street post-imperialism james-baldwin imperialism	James Baldwin
69f91a6	The morning weighs on my shoulders with the dreadful weight of hope and I take the blue envelope which Jacques has sent me and tear it slowly into many pieces, watching them dance in the wind, watching the wind carry them away. Yet, as I turn and begin walking toward the waiting people, the wind blows some of them back on me.	hope giovanni-s-room james-baldwin last-lines sad symbolism	James Baldwin
6fb0648	Wisely, Baldwin insisted that we are always more than our pain. Not only did he believe in our capacity to love, he felt black people were uniquely situated to risk loving because we had suffered.	love james-baldwin	bell hooks
a88f344	No curtain under heaven is heavier than that curtain of guilt and lies behind which white Americans hide.	james-baldwin usa race-relations race	James Baldwin
8b00033	No matter how it seems now, I must confess: I loved him. I do not think that I will ever love anyone like that again. And this might be a great relief if I did not also know that, when the knife has fallen, Giovanni, if he feels anything will feel relief.	love one-and-only one-true-love giovanni-s-room james-baldwin declaration-of-love never-again relief sad	James Baldwin
e618094	When he was dead I realized that I had hardly ever spoken to him. When he had been dead a long time I began to wish I had. It seems to be typical of life in America, where opportunities, real and fancied, are thicker than anywhere else on the globe, that the second generation has no time to talk to the first.	death james-baldwin	James Baldwin
8c9bac6	I stared at absurd Paris, which was as cluttered now, under the scalding sun, as the landscape of my heart.	heart giovanni-s-room james-baldwin paris	James Baldwin
44ce3d2	"I do not know what I would do if you left me." For the first time I felt the suggestion of a threat in his voice--or I put it there. "I have been alone so long--I do not think I would be able to live if I had to be alone again."	relationship romantic-relationship giovanni-s-room james-baldwin suicidal threat	James Baldwin
a42abda	I loved her as much as ever and I still did not know how much that was.	relationship love uncertain romantic-relationship giovanni-s-room james-baldwin confused	James Baldwin
64a7b81	I feel in myself now a faint, a dreadful stirring of what so overwhelmingly stirred in me then, great thirsty heat, and trembling, and tenderness so painful I thought my heart would burst. But out of this astounding, intolerable pain came joy; we gave each other joy that night.	literature james-baldwin	James Baldwin
16af428	The Americans have no sense of doom, none whatever. They do not recognize doom when they see it.	giovanni-s-room james-baldwin cultural doom blind americans	James Baldwin
f24ce67	People, I have learned, have a way of taking root in one's still-developing mind without our knowing it, especially people, like [James] Baldwin, who live in the world of words.	words influence james-baldwin writers	Edward P. Jones
94cd7d9	To begin with, the room was not large enough for two. It looked out on a small courtyard. 'Looked out' means only that the room had two windows, against which the courtyard malevolently pressed, encroaching day by day, as though it had confused itself with a jungle.	humor giovanni-s-room james-baldwin	James Baldwin
ca29477	But she saw nothing in my eyes--she stared at me as though I had made a long journey on a white charger all the way to her prison house.	simile knight-in-shining-armor miscommunication romantic-relationship giovanni-s-room james-baldwin	James Baldwin
b013285	He had been bruised, so to speak, so badly that the eyes of strangers lacerated him like salt.	metaphor james-baldwin wounded	James Baldwin
85a966b	"One of these days," he said. "Everything bad will happen--one of these days."	giovanni-s-room portent james-baldwin pessimistic bad ominous	James Baldwin
92ad9d6	He was waiting, I think, for me to cross that space and take him in my arms again--waiting, as one waits at a deathbed for the miracle one dare not disbelieve, which will not happen.	simile starcrossed-lovers james-baldwin waiting sad	James Baldwin
ad52276	On each piece of paper I found addresses, telephone numbers, memos of various rendezvous made and kept--or perhaps not kept--people met and remembered, or perhaps not remembered, hopes probably not fulfilled: certainly not fulfilled, or I would not have been standing on that street corner.	unfulfilled james-baldwin melancholy regret sad	James Baldwin
b8ea8f9	Much has been written of love turning to hatred, of the heart growing cold with the death of love. It is a remarkable process. It is far more terrible than anything I have ever read about it, more terrible than anything I will ever be able to say.	hatred hate love love-to-hate james-baldwin terrible sad	James Baldwin
e83d8ff	The fact that their [the flower children's] uniforms and their jargons precisely represented the distances they had yet to cover before arriving at that maturity which makes love possible--or no longer possible--could not be considered their fault. They had been born into a society in which nothing was harder to achieve, in which perhaps nothing was more scorned and feared than the idea of the soul's maturity.	no-name-in-the-street post-imperialism james-baldwin imperialism	James Baldwin
2a41e34	In benighted, incompetent Africa, I had never encountered an orphan: the American streets resembled nothing so much as one vast, howling, unprecedented orphanage. It has been vivid to me for many years that what we call a race problem here is not a race problem at all: to keep calling it that is a way of avoiding the problem. The problem is rooted in the question of how one treats one's flesh and blood, especially one's children.	no-name-in-the-street post-imperialism james-baldwin imperialism	James Baldwin

Whose little boy are you?

racism youth religion god harlem james-baldwin renaissance institution epiphany coming-of-age black church

James Baldwin

ece1b9a

You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.

james-baldwin fiction-writing quotes

James Baldwin

7c7e007

But I felt that it was my heart which was broken. Something had broken in me to make me so cold and so perfectly still and far away.

distant giovanni-s-room james-baldwin heartbroken detached dissociation cold

James Baldwin

79e2e86

Whereas Jesus and his disciples were distrusted by the state largely because they respected the poor and shared everything, the fundamentalists of the present hour would appear not to know that the poor exist.

religion james-baldwin humanitarianism hypocrisy

James Baldwin

8caf5de

I had to get out of there for my face showed too much, the war in my body was dragging me down. My feet refused to carry me over to him again. The wind of my life was blowing me away.

life leave-taking giovanni-s-room james-baldwin inner-turmoil goodbye separation sad

James Baldwin

a1ffc5b

And with every step I took it became more impossible for me to turn back. And my mind was empty--or it was as though my mind had become one enormous, anaesthetized wound. I thought only,

sorrow no-turning-back james-baldwin leaving numb grieving sad

James Baldwin

1d0217f

The wonderful thing about writers like [James] Baldwin is the way we read them and come across passages that are so arresting we become breathless and have to raise our eyes from the page to keep from being spirited away.

words writing wonder james-baldwin writers

Edward P. Jones

800a860

"Maybe everything bad that happens to you makes you weaker," said Giovanni, as though he had not heard me, "and so you can stand less and less."

life weakened weaker giovanni-s-room james-baldwin

James Baldwin

36690c0

"He smiled, "Why, you will go home and then you will find that home is not home anymore. Then you will really be in trouble. As long as you stay here, you can always think: One day I will go home." He played with my thumb and grinned. " ?" "Beautiful logic," I said. "You mean I have a home to go to as long as I don't go there?" He laughed. "Well, isn't it true? You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back."

giovanni-s-room james-baldwin paradox home

James Baldwin

b9043df

To be liberated from the stigma of blackness by embracing it is to cease, forever, one's interior argument and collaboration with the authors of one's degradation. It abruptly reduces the white enemy to a contest merely physical, which he can win only physically.

no-name-in-the-street post-imperialism james-baldwin imperialism

James     Baldwin

69f91a6

The morning weighs on my shoulders with the dreadful weight of hope and I take the blue envelope which Jacques has sent me and tear it slowly into many pieces, watching them dance in the wind, watching the wind carry them away. Yet, as I turn and begin walking toward the waiting people, the wind blows some of them back on me.

hope giovanni-s-room james-baldwin last-lines sad symbolism

James Baldwin

6fb0648

Wisely, Baldwin insisted that we are always more than our pain. Not only did he believe in our capacity to love, he felt black people were uniquely situated to risk loving because we had suffered.

love james-baldwin

bell hooks

a88f344

No curtain under heaven is heavier than that curtain of guilt and lies behind which white Americans hide.

james-baldwin usa race-relations race

James Baldwin

8b00033

No matter how it seems now, I must confess: I loved him. I do not think that I will ever love anyone like that again. And this might be a great relief if I did not also know that, when the knife has fallen, Giovanni, if he feels anything will feel relief.

love one-and-only one-true-love giovanni-s-room james-baldwin declaration-of-love never-again relief sad

James Baldwin

e618094

When he was dead I realized that I had hardly ever spoken to him. When he had been dead a long time I began to wish I had. It seems to be typical of life in America, where opportunities, real and fancied, are thicker than anywhere else on the globe, that the second generation has no time to talk to the first.

death james-baldwin

James Baldwin

8c9bac6

I stared at absurd Paris, which was as cluttered now, under the scalding sun, as the landscape of my heart.

heart giovanni-s-room james-baldwin paris

James Baldwin

44ce3d2

"I do not know what I would do if you left me." For the first time I felt the suggestion of a threat in his voice--or I put it there. "I have been alone so long--I do not think I would be able to live if I had to be alone again."

relationship romantic-relationship giovanni-s-room james-baldwin suicidal threat

James Baldwin

a42abda

I loved her as much as ever and I still did not know how much that was.

relationship love uncertain romantic-relationship giovanni-s-room james-baldwin confused

James Baldwin

64a7b81

I feel in myself now a faint, a dreadful stirring of what so overwhelmingly stirred in me then, great thirsty heat, and trembling, and tenderness so painful I thought my heart would burst. But out of this astounding, intolerable pain came joy; we gave each other joy that night.

literature james-baldwin

James Baldwin

16af428

The Americans have no sense of doom, none whatever. They do not recognize doom when they see it.

giovanni-s-room james-baldwin cultural doom blind americans

James Baldwin

f24ce67

People, I have learned, have a way of taking root in one's still-developing mind without our knowing it, especially people, like [James] Baldwin, who live in the world of words.

words influence james-baldwin writers

Edward P. Jones

94cd7d9

To begin with, the room was not large enough for two. It looked out on a small courtyard. 'Looked out' means only that the room had two windows, against which the courtyard malevolently pressed, encroaching day by day, as though it had confused itself with a jungle.

humor giovanni-s-room james-baldwin

James Baldwin

ca29477

But she saw nothing in my eyes--she stared at me as though I had made a long journey on a white charger all the way to her prison house.

simile knight-in-shining-armor miscommunication romantic-relationship giovanni-s-room james-baldwin

James Baldwin

b013285

He had been bruised, so to speak, so badly that the eyes of strangers lacerated him like salt.

metaphor james-baldwin wounded

James Baldwin

85a966b

"One of these days," he said. "Everything bad will happen--one of these days."

giovanni-s-room portent james-baldwin pessimistic bad ominous

James Baldwin

92ad9d6

He was waiting, I think, for me to cross that space and take him in my arms again--waiting, as one waits at a deathbed for the miracle one dare not disbelieve, which will not happen.

simile starcrossed-lovers james-baldwin waiting sad

James Baldwin

ad52276

On each piece of paper I found addresses, telephone numbers, memos of various rendezvous made and kept--or perhaps not kept--people met and remembered, or perhaps not remembered, hopes probably not fulfilled: certainly not fulfilled, or I would not have been standing on that street corner.

unfulfilled james-baldwin melancholy regret sad

James Baldwin

b8ea8f9

Much has been written of love turning to hatred, of the heart growing cold with the death of love. It is a remarkable process. It is far more terrible than anything I have ever read about it, more terrible than anything I will ever be able to say.

hatred hate love love-to-hate james-baldwin terrible sad

James Baldwin

e83d8ff

The fact that their [the flower children's] uniforms and their jargons precisely represented the distances they had yet to cover before arriving at that maturity which makes love possible--or no longer possible--could not be considered their fault. They had been born into a society in which nothing was harder to achieve, in which perhaps nothing was more scorned and feared than the idea of the soul's maturity.

no-name-in-the-street post-imperialism james-baldwin imperialism

James     Baldwin

2a41e34

In benighted, incompetent Africa, I had never encountered an orphan: the American streets resembled nothing so much as one vast, howling, unprecedented orphanage. It has been vivid to me for many years that what we call a race problem here is not a race problem at all: to keep calling it that is a way of avoiding the problem. The problem is rooted in the question of how one treats one's flesh and blood, especially one's children.

no-name-in-the-street post-imperialism james-baldwin imperialism

James     Baldwin