Quotes by James A. Baldwin

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.

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.

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.

The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world’s definitions.

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.

Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?

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.