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

James A. Baldwin

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" 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. "

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" The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. "

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

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" People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead. "

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

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" Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. "

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" When one begins to live by habit and by quotation, one has begun to stop living. "

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" 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. "

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" Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. "

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

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" There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now. "

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" 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. "

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" Be careful what you set your heart upon - for it will surely be yours. "

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

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" It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive. "

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

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

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

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" Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks. "

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