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| JAMES BALDWIN |
| �Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievements must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.�
�It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.� �It is very nearly impossible� to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.� �People are not�terribly anxious to be equal�but they love the idea of being superior.� �People can cry much easier than they can change.� �People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.� �Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to forsee this, it is impossible to be warned.� �We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.� �Words like �freedom�, �justice�, �democracy� are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.� |