20 Inspiring James Baldwin Quotes

This post may contains affiliate links. If you click and buy we may make a commission, at no additional charge to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more details.

If you are searching for James Baldwin quotes, you came to the right place!

James Baldwin was an essayist, novelist, poet, and human rights activist with a strong voice against racism.

His remarkable work has left an imprint in the history of literature. His name and legacy are still widely recognized around the world. James Baldwin was not only a great writer but a light in the tunnel for his generation.

James Baldwin delved into complex social and psychological dilemmas and his essays will surely captivate you. 

He was a wise man that had a lot to say, and thankfully he wrote down those thoughts. He is an inspiration to many, including to us here at HookedToBooks.

That’s why we decided to gather the 20 most inspirational James Baldwin Quotes.

James Baldwin Quotes

Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.

James Baldwin Quotes

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

You write in order to change the world … if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.

Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.

People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state on innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.

The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

James Baldwin Quotes

Trust life, and it will teach you, in joy and sorrow, all you need to know.

You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.

People can cry much easier than they can change.

James Baldwin Quotes

Our crown has already been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear it.

The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.

James Baldwin Quotes

Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

When you’re writing you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know.

With everything in me screaming No! Yet the sum of me sighed Yes.

We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.

The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in.

James Baldwin Quotes

Every human being is an unprecedented miracle.

Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go

We hope you enjoyed reading these inspiring James Baldwin Quotes. Which quote is your favorite? Share it in the comments!

Check Out These Other Great Quotes:

Leave a Comment