Society is held together by our need; we bind it together with legend, myth, coercion, fearing that without it we will be hurled into that void, within which, like the earth before the Word was spoken, the foundations of society…

Quote by James Arthur Baldwin

Topics: Society Quotes

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is...

The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is...

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

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

It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your...

It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your...

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

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

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets,...

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets,...

The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody,...

The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody,...

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is...

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is...

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

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

Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one's beliefs, and the equal impossibility of...

Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one's beliefs, and the equal impossibility of...

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because...

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because...

Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and...

Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and...

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time,...

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time,...

Love is the bread of life: you have to make it everyday if you want...

Love is the bread of life: you have to make it everyday if you want...

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

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

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life,...

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life,...

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation....

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation....

Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more...

Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more...

The earth is what we all have in common.

The earth is what we all have in common.

We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our...

We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth's creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our...

To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only...

To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only...

Life becomes religious whenever we make it so: when some new light is seen, when...

Life becomes religious whenever we make it so: when some new light is seen, when...