It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them as men. It treats them as mascots, pets, or things.
James A. BaldwinRead
It happened, as many things do, imperceptibly, in many ways at once. I date it - the slow crumbling of my faith, the pulverization of my fortress - from the time, about a year after I had begun to preach, when I began to read again. I justified this desire by the fact that I was still in school, and I began, fatally, with Dostoyevsky.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a gradual loss of faith through the influence of reading profound literature.
James A. Baldwin reflects on the subtle and multifaceted process of losing faith, particularly in the context of intellectual exploration. He relates this experience to his reading of Dostoyevsky, which he views as a pivotal moment that initiated the slow disintegration of the strong beliefs he once held, illustrating how exposure to new ideas can challenge and reshape one's worldview.
Themes
FaithReadingIntellectualDestructionBeliefs
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of literature on personal beliefs.
More from James A. Baldwin
All quotes →The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.
James A. BaldwinRead
Those kids aren't dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure they don't get smart: they are really teaching the kids to be slaves.
James A. BaldwinRead
Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.
James A. BaldwinRead
The reason people think it's important to be white is that they think it's important not to be black.
James A. BaldwinRead
The trick is to love somebody.... If you love one person, you see everybody else differently.
James A. BaldwinRead
Similar quotes
Is it not enough that 'things are cruel and blind'? Must we also be cruel and blind?
Voltairine De CleyreRead
To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death of one's own free choice, death at the proper time, with a clear head and with joyfulness, consummated in the midst of children and witnesses: so that an actual leave-taking is possible while he who is leaving is still there.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.
Billy SundayRead
The Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?
Marilynne RobinsonRead
The experience of our generation: _x000D_ that capitalism will not die a natural death.
Walter BenjaminRead
We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead