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

James Baldwin, born on this day in 1924.

‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’ - James Baldwin

‘The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.’ - James Baldwin

‘There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain.’ - James Baldwin

‘People can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.’ - James Baldwin

‘It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.’ - James Baldwin

‘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.’ - James Baldwin