#al

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#action #asks #balance #himself #insane

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#conscious #country #rage #relatively #time

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#exalts #future #go #heaven #like

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

— James A. Baldwin

#calling #intimate #intimate knowledge #knowledge #pays

There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#dealing #dreadful #eyes #few #few things

Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine. ↗

— Hosea Ballou

#divine #former #human #latter #never

A lover always thinks of his mistress first and himself second; with a husband it runs the other way. ↗

— Honore de Balzac

#first #himself #his #husband #lover

Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#any #born #conspiracy #cultivation #feels

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. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#beings #beneath #better #hope #human

If you're treated a certain way you become a certain kind of person. If certain things are described to you as being real they're real for you whether they're real or not. ↗

— James Baldwin

#being #being real #certain #certain things #certain way